February 2009 - The Therapy of a Snow Day

There are folks who love living in the mountains because of the four distinct seasons, including the wet, muddy winters. And, there are folks who don't want to even know what a single digit temperature feels like and fly south faster than a goose in formation when the first frost looms.

Myself, I've been spoiled most of my adult life by Carolina blue skies that seem to shine year round. After growing up here in some harsh weather that often included days off from school, I was glad to be in a place where you could get so much sun. My husband thought it was cool that he could wear shorts all year. We'd often have 70-degree days in the middle of January.

Occasionally, a winter storm would blow through, the newscasters would get in a frenzy, and the stores would make a killing selling all the bread, milk, and batteries they could get their hands on. A few snowflakes would fly, and by the next day it would all be gone. A handful of times over the many years, a serious snow would fall and we'd get so excited. We'd all miss work and spend the day sledding and building snow things with the neighbors. Then it was back to normal, snow gone as quickly as it arrived.

When we decided to move back to the hills, I looked forward to those snowy winters again. I wanted the kids to be able to make some of those same memories we did years ago when unexpected snow days meant a day of family fun.

Unfortunately, our first winter here was a little on the uneventful side. There were a few heavy snows, a couple days off school, and many cold days penned up in the old farmhouse. But Richard was still working in North Carolina, so he wasn't here to take part most of the time, and it just wasn't the same.

We did get a dose of what we dubbed "redneck Sledding" that year. Richard brought back a couple of high-end snow boards coated on the bottom with a hard resin. It was Christmas and the kids were anxious to try them out. He brought one for my brother's kids also, and it was at their house when the gifts were opened. We didn't have one snowflake that entire week, and it was unseasonably warm and sunny, but that didn't keep the kids from figuring out how to use their new gifts.

We happened to look out the window later and all four kids were piled on the sleds riding down a steep embankment in a nearby field. Even though the field was full of grass and clumps of briars, the sleds were still flying down the hill, dumping all the riders each time they hit bottom. They would all scurry back up again and do it over and over.

They did this for hours that day, laughing the entire time. Amazed at how much fun the kids were having, we got out the video camera and filmed the ingenious event. They didn't have snow, or even winter clothes on, but they were having a good time. Needless to say, the sleds looked a little rough at the end of it all. We could only imagine what they could have done if there had been some snow on the ground!

Another year has passed and this is our first winter with Richard here full time. It's been unusually wet and dreary, often very cold, and not very snowy. As a family, we've been waiting patiently for those unexpected days off from school, the kind I remembered as a child, when we spent the day doing something out of the ordinary.

That is one of the inherent blessings of living where Mother Nature openly wears her distinctive seasons. The same unpredictable winter traits that keep some people away keep others, like us, digging in and hoping for that first big snow.

For me, it's kind of like that dangling carrot that keeps you moving forward. I'm tired of the rain and mud, I'm tired of the frigid winds, I've suffered through cold nights without heat (when the gas went out more than once) and eerily quiet afternoons without electric. But, every once in a while, when the weatherman gets it right, the flakes start to fall, or the ice storm looms and we go to bed anticipating what the next day might bring.

And - finally - it happened just when we needed it most! The holidays had passed, the economy stinks and everyone had been in a bad mood, but the forecast called for a substantial weather system and we all anxiously awaited the morning newscast. The word "CLOSED" finally flasheed by our school listing and we pulled up the covers and go back to sleep.

The kids eventually woke up and ran straight to the window. Yes! It's a snow day!

After playing outside for a while, we spent some time dancing to Alvin the Chipmunk singing rap music (he has his own CD) and watching our German shepherd attack the newly-built snow man. We got a good laugh at Richard trying to catch a couple of wayward chickens --it's hard to do in snow.

After a lunch of homemade vegetable soup and corn bread, we dressed the cat in an assortment of doll clothes and made ice cream out of snow, all in our pajamas. After supper, we crashed on the king-sized bed and watched a movie until we fell asleep together. We couldn't think of one reason to leave the 'holler that day.

High-priced toys made overseas, and electronic baby-sitters like video games and TV were far from our agenda that day. Another blessing of living in the country - kids often learn how to do something with nothing, make do when they have to, and find the silver lining even in the most ominous winter clouds.

The fun lasted only a brief day, but it was just enough mountain therapy to get us through another month of cold, wet mud.