DocAndersen
Ah, Snow.
You fall from the sky, covering the ground below. Well, except in DC, Then you often fall, filling the air with shimmering images of snowflakes, that upon hitting the ground melt. But that is now, and this was then. Funny, every year we lived in Greenwood we got snow big enough to cancel school for a day. When I was a child, also in Indiana, I waited each night snow was predicted hoping to hear the radio announcement (MCCSC has canceled school today. Go ahead, go back to sleep, You don’t have to get up. You can sleep. No school. Oh yeah and by the way before your father gets home to make sure you have the driveway shoveled. It seemed the fickle fate of no-school level snow, choose instead to reward my children.
Every year there was at least one storm that cost them a day of school. That was never a cost they were unwilling to pay. Well, that isn’t true. Their Junior year of High School we had a huge snow storm, and then two others that cost them five days of school. Because of that (the school system had planned for two days) then the school system, had to apply to a dispensation from the state. That meant the senior year for the twins; they added four days. There was no measurable snow that winter, so they got to go to school for four additional days. We haven’t had a big snow storm since 2016. I am sure we are due. But, back in the Greenwood IN days, we had measurable snows every year.
That meant you could go outside and sled. Not, like the sledding down the hill, I used to do in Cambridge Wisconsin. Hitting speeds of more than 20 miles per hour. (the scar on my forehead a reminder, that sleds don’t turn as fast as you would hope, and that nimble trees can jump in front of anyone). Because the pond was a forbidden zone, the twins and my daughter had to sled on the tiny hill to the right of the deck. Or to play forever in the snow. There was a moment, as I made my morning coffee, looking out over the pristine world, other than the footprints of dogs mind you, that everything was perfect. That was soon shattered by the screams of excited children (They canceled school, they canceled school) and the confused sound of a dog, barking to make noise with the children but not sure why there was a celebration. I, on the other hand, had to go clear the driveway.
