Remembering snow days

 As we await today's winter weather, I would be remiss if I didn't remember the snow days we had growing up on Brookgreen Drive.  Ah, those were the days.  If the snow was happening on a weekday, we would wake up and have to watch the local tv channel to see if school was going to be closed.  And that was agonizing to a kid.  There was absolutely no guarantee that we wouldn't be in school.  Our eyes were glued to the bottom of the screen.  We would be reciting the alphabet in our heads as the names of schools scrolled by, holding our breath, waiting to see Walter Bickett or Monroe Middle School or Monroe High School.  If ours wasn't there, then we would have to sit and keep watching all of the other categories before it got back round to the schools. It was very intense!

Once it was determined that there would be no school, it just became a matter of picking the right time to go out sledding.  There was a pretty big hill in our neighborhood.  From where the Griffin's tennis court was and running down to the creek behind the Derrick's and the Davis's house.  Somehow all of us kids of all ages managed to get there around the same time.  Most of us had the cheap plastic sleds but they worked.  Sometimes people would bring boxes to slide down the hill on. One time, I remember that I actually slid into the creek.  I had to go home after that because I was all wet and frostbite could have been an issue.  I also remember a time when Amy Arnold got stung by a bee when we were sledding.  She sat down in one of the boxes and a bee that had died was in the bottom of the box was stinger side up.  Oops!!

Another fun thing I remember about snow days is that Grandmother almost always came over to stay with us.  Either Mom would get her the night before or Dad would go that morning and pick her up.  She used to love to make snow cream.  I haven't had that in years!  And there would always be a fire in the fireplace.  That came in handy if the power went out.  If you've never had the pleasure of experiencing a real fire in a fireplace, you are missing out!  After the obligatory snow sledding, the afternoon became filled with puzzles, playing cards, coloring. I'm so glad that I was a kid before personal computers became a thing.  I feel sorry for kids who have to spend snow days in online classes instead getting to just be a kid all day and enjoy the snow.  Of course, that was back in the old days when we were taught to learn and not just taught how to take a test.  

And then, just like that, it would be over.  Normal life would resume but we would have those memories of the snow days to last a lifetime. Since it didn't snow every year in Monroe, these snow days were very precious.  How I would love to get out into the snow again one more time with the gang of kids from Brookgreen Drive.  We didn't really know how good we had it at the time.  Ah, sweet memories.