Snow Days

Last night as I was going to bed and was thinking of watching TV before falling asleep, I remembered Hannah emptied the trashcan beside my bed. And then I remembered that I knocked the remote into the trashcan sometime during the previous night. Guess where my remote was? Guess who comes tomorrow? Guess who tromped through the snow to get said remote? Guess how many inches of snow we have?

The above is my current Facebook status. Now, it might seem as if I am complaining about the midnight adventure in the snow. That simply is not true. Though I do not enjoy the snow for longer than a day or two, I certainly enjoy playing in it.

As a kid, I grew up in Manassas. One winter, I think when I was around 8 or 9 (maybe younger?), we received several feet of snow - or at least that's how it felt to me. It was one of those snows where the snow fell first followed by sleet. The next morning the snow was so hard I could not break through it. I was walking on top of it! I remember my beagle, Sam, did the same thing. My dad called that four-paw drive. Accumulating snowstorms seemed to be common when I was a kid. One of my favorite memories of snow involved Allen and I, along with our neighborhood friends, building an igloo and a snow fort. In our eyes, it was a grand creation. We buried deep into the snow and made a snow tunnel. We worked for hours digging deeper, repacking snow and smoothing it down.

Our other works of art where snow angels. We tried to figure out exactly how to form the perfect angel without any footprints destroying our design. We would plop down in the snow, form our angel and call for a friend to come pull us up....treading carefully around our beautiful design.

When we moved to Richmond, we discovered the art of tractor sledding. Dad would first hook a thick, heavy chain to the back of the tractor, then he would attach it to a sled, the kind with runners, and off we went. I can still recall my mom yelling, "Randall, slow down!" What a thrill!!

So, even though this beautiful wonderland will soon melt away, take time to go out and play this morning. Make a snowman, throw a few snowballs, drink some hot chocolate...and enjoy being a kid again, even if it is only for an hour or so.