When I was a child I lived in the country where our home and property of 3 acres backed up to a forrest and beyond that a large farm. I remember leaving home after breakfast and not returning until suppertime. I had so many adventures from sloshing through creeks where my boots would be pulled into the deep mud like quicksand, to stealing pears from the farmers’ trees and running home after tearing my pants on a barbed wire fence with a farmer in hot pursuit. One vivid memory is when my aunt from Miami came to stay for awhile and we explored the woods. We started gathering wild berries and having a grand old time when a thunderstorm exploded, and we quickly ran home drenched with rain from head to toe. My Aunt Betty and I were laughing hysterically from all the excitement but our joy soon withered when we were reprimanded by my mom after leaving muddy puddles on her freshly cleaned kitchen floor.
Some of my most memorable times, though, were when we had snow, and it seems to me it was more frequent back then and with larger acculumlations……although I was much shorter when I was a child! We did not grow up with the weather channel or radar so when snow came it was usually a welcome surprise. Also, because of the lack of technology we never knew when it would end, so life during a big snowstorm was glorious with an element of mystery.
With the help from my mom we would become little michelin men and women unable to fall or get hurt because of all the layers of clothing with which she would adorn us. She’d happily send us out into the tundra for an all day excursion of sledding, ice skating, making snow angels and snowmen. We had a quasi-sled called a snurfer. It took much balance and agility to ride for we had to stand up toe to heel on the board. I was never as capable gliding on the sled as my brother and sister, but it was so much fun.
The snow was beautiful. Because we lived in such an open area, we had breathtaking vistas of fields and woods covered with stunning white crystals. The erie sound of the wind through the pine needles mesmerized me into a deep feeling of contentment. I so enjoyed just laying in the snow and taking in the hypnotizing sounds and sights of nature.
Now that I am a mother of four adult children, I still feel the wonder and awe of a major snow storm. Although radar has removed some of it’s mystique, it still is wonderful to behold. I now live in a small town without the expansive vistas. Instead, I admire beautiful old buildings covered in white with candles lit in the windows welcoming people back home after shoveling off their sidewalks. At my birdfeeder, I watch the brilliantly colored blue jays and cardinals against the backdrop of a white canvass as they hungrily eat their fill. I always enjoy listening to the crackling of the wood-burning fire in my living room while sipping either a Mexican hot chocolate or a glass of wine.
I’m looking forward to the stillness of the night when I venture out for a walk in the fresh powder. I guess I am still a child at heart. I will always love the anticipation of a snow storm and all of it’s wonder.
Life Redecorated 