The doorbell rang at half past four, and Scott and I were gone by quarter ‘til five, before the sitter could change her mind. Even almost two years ago, it was hard to get somebody to watch Sam. Not to mention that she was fifteen and being dropped off by her Dad, and it was snowing in central Alabama.
I don’t remember exactly where we went. Dinner at least. Probably a movie. Anything at all to recover from the holidays. I do recall wandering around Whole Earth (or whatever that store is) one of the few venues that hadn’t simply shut down because of a few centimeters of white precipitation.
Mostly, I remember that when we came home, the kids and sitter had built a perfect snowman, of the variety I could never achieve as a child. I had been avoiding going outside in the disgusting white stuff at all, and the sitter must have bundled them up and taken them out there first thing. I realized only after the fact that I had done this on purpose, hired someone else to play in the snow with my children.
I hate winter. Its relative absence is one of the things I value most about living down South. We rarely get anything resembling sleet, let alone actual flaky matter. And when we do, the governor pretty well has to close the state. So Scott and I left that afternoon to see a town deserted, and we came home that evening to admire the novelty of a white roof and yard, of a man all built up under our front ash tree.
We parked in the garage, paid the sitter, and congratulated ourselves on giving our children an experience without suffering through it ourselves. We sat down inside to enjoy the scene without. And while we watched, once more, the snow began to fall.
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Ah. It is World Market. Now we know. Beam Me Back Up
I’m linking this post up with Write on Edge’s “Red Writing Hood” prompt to begin a holiday related story with ‘the doorbell rang’ and end it with ‘the snow began to fall’.
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Jessie Powell is the Jester Queen. She likes to tell you about her dog, her kids, her fiction, and her blog, but not necessarily in that order. |
I don't like playing in the snow either, to be honest 🙂 One small issue I have with this is the timing; at the beginning, you talk about leaving at 5:45 then later describe it as afternoon. Changing the time maybe to 3:45 or 4:45 might work better for the afternoon/playing outside idea. Maybe Michigan just gets dark early in the winter!
I see what you mean. I think it's an attitude thing. I refuse to think of the hour between five and six as evening, even though the sun may be setting. (And I think the sun WAS setting when we left – that snowman must have been a blitzkrieg assembly).
Yeah – on reflection, I just need the time to be different. I have to be remembering it wrong.
We got our first dusting last night. Though I hate it (22 months in So Cal made me a weather wimp) I refuse to let it hinder me thus I bundled up and got my four mile walk in this morning. Not quite ready to don the snow pants.
And Michigan does get dark early but try Chicago.
I can't even imagine what Chicago is like! I've never been, but I'm dying to go.
It is the perfect big city.
I love that you hired someone to play in the snow with your kids! I totally get that : )
Thanks for commenting on my post. It was really hard to get it down to 300. The first draft was a little over 400 words! This is more of my story which is scattered across my blog. The event is true, I'm just not sure it there was snow or not.
I know what you mean! I tend to blow off word counts on a whim. I'll use them to help me shape when that's useful…. anyway your piece really had the feel of 'truth' to it. I wondered if it was also real. Well done throwing them out.
Oy yeah – anything on that eastern edge of the central time zone. This was actually sometime in February when things in Alabama were starting (haha, starting) to lighten up. I can't imagine leaving California for anyplace with snow.
Hehe, this made me laugh. Was it entirely deliberate though?! 🙂
I'd been thinking for the whole two days leading up to the snow (which were fraught with weather-persons imitating the gale on TV) "How am I going to get out of this?"
I only like playing in the snow because we rarely get any! We get the occasional flurry maybe once a year. Maybe.
I think I'd had enough of snow by the time I was ten. I was homeschooled the year I was fifteen. Except for going out to the car to ride with Dad to work (I volunteered at his workplace twice a week) I didn't leave the house once all year. I looked out at the snow and finally acknowledged it for the hateful thing it is.
I cannot drive in snow. It is a good thing SC shuts down, too. We native Southerners would kill each other.
Can't wait to see where this goes.
This is true. Any time the roads get slick, the number of people accidentally sitting in other people's cars goes up exponentially.
lol that's awesome. We live in California (central valley so no snow, maybe once every other year) and my husband and I also hate the cold.
I love California. I have been there three times, and I never wanted to leave.
You had a really awesome sitter! I love the snow. I don't love being cold and wet.
You know – you're right. If I could separate 'snow' from 'cold and wet', I might reevaluate my attitude about it!
I still love playing in snow! But then it doesn't normally last that long in Provence. Last year we didn't get any.
I agree with Angela's comment about the timing – I wondered (vaguely – not important) how it was still light enough to make a snowman.
The more I hear about Provence, the more I think I like it! No snow is a good thing in my book! (I suspect my kiddos will have to be dragged out of it kicking and screaming when they become adults). I think you and Angela have a good point. I'm doubtless remembering the time wrong – I may change it to four instead of five.
I could cheerfully move a little further north and have six full months of winter, but I prefer skiing, sledding, and skating to just playing in the snow.
Oh and snowshoeing.
I'd be the one paying a sitter to stay home with my son, so I could hit the slopes solo for a few hours!
If I could learn to do something really cool in the snow, I probably wouldn't hesitate. I think JDaniel4's Mom above hit the nail on the head. It isn't the snow – it's the cold and wet. Then when you add in the mundaneness of the things I know how to do in the snow, the advantages just aren't there. But I'd love to know how to ski. That would be awesome.
I loved this line "and we came home that evening to admire the novelty of a white roof and yard, of a man all built up under our front ash tree"….that you are enjoying the "novelty" 🙂
I am from the North and a place that gets TONS of snow and cold and wet…but I don't mind it. We are pretty active with winter sports…but sometimes it is nice to just watch the snow fall.
We are both from Ohio. I honestly think that if he had married someone else, Scott would still love the snow. Poor guy got me and bought my arguments about icky cold. Thanks for stopping by! I'm really glad you enjoyed what you found.