Snow Days

When I was a kid snow days were different. The snow was deeper, whiter, made better snow balls, snow men and snow forts. I remember snow days playing with my cousins in their backyard during one crazy St. Louis winter and sledding down Ridge Drive the year we moved to Rockville, Maryland. We used to get enough snow in Maryland that Katie, my BFF from Junior High and I would steal candle stubs from our mom's kitchen junk drawers to wax up the runners on the rental sleds at the big toboggan run at the park.

Maybe I should have stuck with it. No luge or skeleton for me, just two man bobsled. I guess I missed my true calling.

The whole "Snowmarmageddon" thing cracked me up. Come on people, they had to call out the Boy Scouts and the National Guard to clear Washington, D.C. for JFK's Inauguration. It snows in DC. It's just that the population of D.C. seems to turn over with every administration, so any hope for a collective memory is lost.

Winters were simpler back then too. People lined their snow boots with Wonder Bread ("builds strong bodies 12 ways") bags back then. No Uggs or high tech boots for us. I am of the pre-moon boot generation, we got cold feet and were proud of it. We knew we had it better than our parents and grandparents, at least we rode the bus to school on non-snow days and didn't have to walk 10 miles uphill in a blizzard to school.

I still enjoy brief moments of that childhood snow day joy. No more bobsleds, now I play Petter Solberg in the snow, testing how brave I really am. Too bad brake pads and tires cost more than mom's old candle ends. It's been a long time since I built a fort or even a snowman. I still throw snow balls for and at the dogs; there's nothing funnier than watching Lily block shots like a hockey goalie or Rossi hunt for the missing "ball".

Next time it snows, I'm going to get out there with the rest of the kids. I'm going to build the biggest snow fort on the block and throw snowballs at people walking down the street.

Now I just need to find some Wonder Bread bags for my boots.