Ah, snow days. Who doesn’t like a good occasional break from winter’s routines with weather that can interrupt and bring life to a fast standstill. And while such storms have their fair share of dangerous opportunities and mishaps, personally I find that the feelings that well up inside me when I hear of snow days for kids and teachers in our schools, still evoke a certain satisfaction inside me. And, because I don’t have a job or career that takes me outside the home anymore, I find I’m quite content to be home in comfort and away from any of a storm’s harsh realities. So it is this past week that I’ve paid attention, waiting to hear or read about cancellations, which takes me back to memories from childhood, when winter storms created snowdrifts up our back door, impassable streets and sidewalks.
When I was a child, we relied on our local television networks to broadcast weather. Much anticipated school closings were announced using a message tape that ran across the bottom of the TV screen. In our home, it was my dad’s routine to tune in “The Today Show” for the morning news. Invariably, if a pounding snowfall began in the night, I was up in the morning my usual time, still getting ready for school, but anxiously watching the television for the answer to my prayer –”please God! Let it be a snow day”. Often, I was disappointed when the ticker message didn’t include Saginaw City Public Schools. Alas, meaning I kept getting ready. In elementary years we walked two blocks to school. By the time junior high years arrived dad dropped me at my best friend’s home and we walked together, covering more than two blocks to our building. In high school, dad often drove me or dropped me at a corner where us kids could catch a city bus which was chartered for transporting students (there was no school bus operation in the late 60s and 70s) When my best friend could drive, she used her family car to get us to school, rain, shine and snow.
Those days are long gone now for me, yet I can still pull images from my memories of snow days that involved a lot of shoveling, snowforts, snowball fights, piles of snow on every corner and along driveways. There was one year that the pile of snow dad and my brothers created from clearing the drive that us kids were able to mold it into an igloo complete with digging it out for a couple of us to crawl inside. If memory serves me correctly we may have even sprayed it down with water to form a good ice covering, but then that would mean my memory says the hose to the faucet was available. Hmmm, maybe that part was a pipedream!
Then there was the winter blizzard of 1967. My oldest brother’s wedding was planned for January 28 but when Thursday rolled around, snow began falling and didn’t stop for hours. Streets, roads, sidewalks, driveways were buried under almost 23 inches of pure white flakes. Needless to say, with a lot of phone calls and tears, Dave’s wedding was cancelled. Those of us in the family who could dig out were able to gather on Sunday for a small ceremony, allowing them to get married. Dave’s father-in-law and other family members put together a meal which we enjoyed in the comfort of their farm home. Not to leave out celebrating with family and friends, my brother and his new wife hosted a reception a month later which meant Kay got to wear her wedding gown a second time, as did the bridal party. The blizzard of ‘67 was a topic of family get-togethers for years….tears that had by now turning to smiles and laughter as we reminisced about overcoming mountains of snow!
That same weekend I can still see Tommy who lived across the street from us. Tommy was an amateur daredevil. Before our street was plowed out from the “city crew”, he was able to get into his bright blue 1967 Chevy Nova II, maneuver in reverse down our road, put it in drive and hit the pedal as though he was starting a drag race! Tommy’s goal was to “clear” a huge snow drift that had formed near our adjoining driveways. I still laugh as I “see” Tommy’s enthusiasm come to a screeching halt when the front end of his car disappeared under the drift, thankfully not causing any harm to him or his car.
Snow storms that turn into blizzards or freezing rain that covers roads and power lines are indeed big challenges as we hunker down through winter months. They are like a two edged sword….no school means a different kind of playtime for kids….hazardous roads need attention from hardworking plow crews…possibilies of power outages give concern to families and businesses. Yet, with each storm, each blizzard, each setback in comfort, somehow we manage, don’t we? Ingenuity –like Tommy’s–and resilience take over, thus removing doubts of seeing the sun come out, temps rising, all the conditions that begin melting those piles made which left us tired, sore, and cold to the core.
I certainly am not wishing for another blizzard like the one in ‘67 but I will say this, all these years later I still enjoy a good snow storm. I can brew a cup of tea in the afternoon, layer myself under a throw blanket, and watch nature’s beauty from a window, seemingly endless pure white flakes falling and cascading in the air, landing on our pines, painting portraits of perfection. And, much like when my family stood at our living room window watching Tommy in his Chevy Nova, listening to him rev the engine, all of us giggling at his “foolishness”, wondering if he’d indeed win the battle against a looming snow drift, I smile. I breathe sighs of contentment and happiness. “These” current snow days are very different from my childhood but one thing remains. The peace, awe, and wonder from winter’s offerings always overshadow anything else going on that’s less than pure joy for my own “snow day” at home!
Be safe! Stay warm!
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