January 28, 2009 9:42 PM
Purcellville Gazette - my 1/16 column
Forgot to publish this here - we finally got our first snow yesterday!
Close to Home By Barbara CurtisWhere, oh where is OUR snow?
When we moved to Virginia from California - 3000 miles, 12 days, 10 kids, 2 vehicles - my kids couldn't wait for snow. When neighbors warned us it didn't really snow that much around here anymore, they began to pray.
And, did it ever snow! Remember? Records were broken that year - including the heaviest snow ever for a rare White Christmas, and 30" in late February.
Philomont kids enjoyed a moveable feast, trudging from house to house for sledding, hot chocolate, movies, bonfires (where a spark was lit for our son Josh and his wife Hattie). What a wonderful life!
Every night I'd surf to our favorite weather page, with nine-year-old Maddy and 10-year-old Jonny hanging eagerly over my shoulder. If snow was in the offing, Jonny would point to the snow icon and clap his hands gleefully. Maddy would run through the house like a town crier - thus earning her nickname, The WeatherGirl.
For California kids, each day school closed was a Major Miracle. And we had more such miracles than anyone could remember.
It got so bad, that at one point after four consecutive days of no school, a neighbor emailed, "Alright, already, I think the Curtises need to stop praying for snow or winter will never end."
Well, the winter did end. Most people heaved a sigh of relief after a rough winter of shoveling snow and power outages.Our family, having enjoyed a four-month ecstatic experience, was somewhat sad, but followed Emily Dickinson's advice by keeping our souls slightly ajar for the next. And behold, it came as spring rolled out a plush green landscape, a symbol of rebirth my kids had never seen with their own eyes.
Then, as if God hadn't blessed our family enough with ecstatic experience, he provided me with this personal exclamation point:
I was helping Maddy with a science project when we came across a site with weather icons. Jonny began jumping up and down with joy, pointing at the one for snow. Clasping his hands together in a pleading way, he sang, "Pease, oh Mommy, pease, can we get dat one?" - in the same way he pleads for cool things in toy catalogues.
By now it was May, but Jonny's abstract thinking skills hadn't grasped that some things just are not possible, and even though I tried to explain that snow wouldn't come for a long time, he kept pleading, "Pease, Mommy, pease?"
And then it hit me: Jonny thought I was responsible for the weather! Having seen me order things on the Internet - much more convenient for a megamom than a mall - he'd thought when we were checking the weather reports that winter that I was ordering the snow!
Oh, how I wish this year he'd been right! Reports of record snow everywhere else and not an eighth of an inch for us have made this a not-so-ecstatic winter for the Curtises.
Anyone else out there ready for some cozy winter days when the rest of the world stops and the fun begins?
Posted in Family, My life | Permalink
Comments
In the years prior to our move to the United States from Canada we had some pretty sad winters, with snowstorms far and few between. Moving to Ohio we managed to squeeze out a couple of snowdays, a few days of watching the wonders of unrelenting snow-filled winds pelt our kitchen windows. Back in Canada they commiserated over all the snow they were getting.
Now that we are spending our second dry winter in Denver, where feet of snow fall just 40 minutes away in the mountains, we get cold dusty wind. Talking to my sister in Toronto today she complained that she cannot shovel the driveway anymore as she can no longer reach the top of the snowbanks. Reports there indicate that February will bring more snow that January.
How I wish Jonny was right, and I could order some snow for us. Heck, I could have it delivered from Canada if I thought Amazon would ship it for free!
We all really miss the snow. I know just how Jonny feels.
Posted by: Kelly | January 28, 2009 11:55 PM
Oh, girl...if I could bottle up our winter and mail it to you I would! But I hear from your mail status and from my mom (in Riverdale, MD) that your wish has come true...and you have snow!
Now I'm trying to figure out how to dig up the rest of the snow in my yard and ship it to you via ABF. LOL
Posted by: Ceci | January 29, 2009 1:22 AM
