Snow.

OK so I already posted this on FB, but I thought I'd throw it up here, too :)

I'm sitting here watching it snow outside. Again. We've had enough snow this winter and would be quite pleased if it would just rain instead.

I remember when I was a little kid, and I would absolutely PRAY for it to snow. It must have worked, because in the mid-1970's, we had a couple of winters with tons of snow.

We lived in a log home that my parents had built, on about 20 acres in south-central Indiana. My bedroom was upstairs, sort of at the back of the house, and often it would remain a bit chilly during the winter since the heat from the giant fireplace never quite made it all the way down the hall to my room.

The fireplace was the centerpiece of the house, rising right up through the middle, separating the living room from the kitchen. It was built of field stone that my parents had collected from around our property. I would often sleep in the loft during the winter, because the chimney came up through the loft and the stone would radiate heat, keeping it nice and toasty up there.

When snow was predicted, I would go to bed at night listening to the howling storm with high hopes of waking up to twenty feet of sparkling, pristine snow, so that school would be canceled and I could play all day. In the morning, my parents would have the radio on down stairs listening to the news report. I would lie awake in the darkened loft, fingers crossed, my ears straining to hear those magic words: "Monroe County Community Schools are closed."

We never got twenty feet of snow over night like I hoped for, but we would get two to three feet. When that happened, none of us were going anywhere...our driveway was a good 1/4 mile long up a fairly steep hill. No way our little 1973 VW Beetle would make it. Dad, Mom and I were all snowed in together. It was great!

Today, snow doesn't thrill me quite as much, to put it mildly. It is still pretty, and as my friend pointed out the other day, it quickly fixes any landscaping problems you might have, since your yard is magically transformed into looking as good as your neighbors'!

Unfortunately the reality of shoveling, digging, getting stuck, tracking mud, driving on icy roads, and worrying about ice dams ruining your roof or walls has ruined the thrill of the big snowstorm for me.

My daughter on the other hand, instead of listening to the news report on the radio waits with baited breath as we check school status on the internet. She is just as excited as I was when I was a kid, when she reads those magic words: "Flagstaff Unified School District is closed"... :)