Snow

The first time I saw snow I was about three, but I was sick and couldn’t go outside. I watched out the front window as my parents and neighbors slid down the snowy sidewalk on the coal shovel and garbage can lids. Now it is hard to imagine my parents ever doing such a thing. But they were young; why not?

The next time it snowed I was able to go outside and I had a snowsuit with stirrup pants. The little blue snowsuit had a furry hood and a furry collar. I thought I was pretty special when I put it on. My mother helped me build a snowman each snow!

When I was in elementary school, it didn’t snow very much. I do recall that it often snowed on Valentine’s Day. Those snows were not big or particularly troublesome, just white and beautiful!

My days in junior high and high school coincided with heavy snows. Birmingham simply was not prepared to deal with snow, so an inch or two of snow and everything closed down. One winter when I was a young teenager was particularly snowy. They were building a new four lane highway down Shades Mountain; when it snowed the road happened to be graded, but not paved. All of us spent magical snow days literally sliding down the mountain on sleds. Of course, we had to walk back up the mountain each time, so a few trips and we were done for. Hot chocolate shared around the kitchen table was a special memory.

Whenever snow started to fall, every teenager became glued to the radio. One by one, we listened while they closed the highways. We knew that once US 31 south of the city was closed, there would be no school. It was usually several days before the road graders could clear the highways – especially if we were hit with an ice storm. This gave me plenty of time to wear “Uncle Will’s boots.” Uncle Will was my grandfather’s fraternal twin brother. He died around the turn of the century, but somehow we had his boots. They fit me and I loved them!

I remember one New Year’s Day when we lost power for a couple of days. Our neighbors with electric stoves were hurting, so my mother invited everyone in for New Year’s breakfast. Since my father worked for the gas company, we had a gas stove and could cook. That breakfast still is a treasured memory.

I married Steve in 1969 and moved to Lebanon, Illinois. There they have REAL snow. I learned to drive in it. Driving on snowy roads was the only way I could get to my graduate classes at SIU. One time on April 1 it snowed three feet. Now that was enough to get them to close the roads!

When we moved to San Bernardino, CA, I learned that snow was more of an entertainment destination than an act of nature. I can recall one snow of about 1/4 “ ever falling in San Bernardino. But snow was easily found. All we had to do was to drive about 30 miles to Big Bear Lake, Lake Arrowhead or Forest Falls. We used to take our small son sledding for the afternoon, then drive home on bone dry roads to 60 degree winter temperatures. In a way, it was surreal!

We arrived in Maryland in 1976 – in time for some wonderful snows. Our son, now capable of sledding without Mom and Dad, loved gathering his friends (ages 5 – 14) in the back yard. We had the best hill in the community! When we fenced our backyard, we put in a large gate that allowed the kids to sled on through to the woods. The kids built snow houses, snowmen, had snowball fights and enjoyed hot chocolate around the kitchen table.

We missed many Maryland snows by going to Alabama for Christmas for decades. And in Alabama we experienced incredible ice storms.

Our son grew up; we sold the house with the hill in back and bought another house on the water. There is no hill for sledding; and there isn’t much driveway to shovel. We love watching the snow fall on the trees behind our house. The creek freezes over and becomes white with snow. The sailboats are the only dots of color. It is beautiful and peaceful! Our grandchildren are just a few miles away, but we don’t see them when it snows. They stay safely at home, go sledding, and enjoy hot chocolate around their kitchen table.

Living in Maryland for thirty years, I have learned to drive on the snow pretty well. I know to carry kitty-litter and a snow shovel, plus some metal gutter grates to drive out of the snow on. I have AAA in case of emergency and have a blanket in the trunk – just in case. I know how to clear my windows with a credit card almost as well as with a special ice scraper! I carry a walking stick with a point on the end for use on the ice. I have enough experience to know when it is time to leave the office in a snowstorm and still arrive home safely.

And with all of that experience with snow in all those places, there is one thing I have never experienced…a White Christmas!