Snow

This week marks the most widespread snowfall in Colorado so far this season. Last night the meteorologists were predicting a mix of snow and rain overnight for the Denver Metro area.

Well, only the parts of the city that are in the foothills actually got snow. My house was too far away from the mountains to see any of it. I was so disappointed when I woke up this morning and the ground was totally dry.

It's made me think of winters past so I thought I would share a few stories...

Rewind to sometime when I was little... sometime between 1981-1985. We lived in the mountains. I was in elementary and my very cool big brother and I were walking to the bus stop to go to school. I'm guessing 1981 because my younger brother wasn't with us (meaning he would have been in afternoon kindergarten). Snow everywhere and it was quite cold. Out in the country (and back then) it was normal for a guy to carry a pocket knife to school. We got to the very steep hill that must be ascended to reach the bus stop. Couldn't walk up the middle of the road because someone coming down the hill either (1) wouldn't be able to see you walking or (2) they might hit ice on the way down and you couldn't get out of the way in time. So, up the side of the road we went... or attempted. There was enough ice that I just kept sliding back down. So my very cool big brother pulled out his pocket knife and chopped out little knicks in the ice so that I would have hand holds/better traction for my boots.

Fast forward to high school. We were living in the city by then. The school district's rule was that if you lived a mile or less from the school, they wouldn't send a bus to pick you up. My house was just under 1 mile from school. I got to walk it every day. By 10th grade we had abandoned the big hair of the of middle school and the 80's so it was no longer necessary to have the hair dried, curled, and sprayed to a plastic point so I didn't bother to get up much earlier than necessary to get to school on time. My hair was always wet when I left the house. In the winter I usually had a mass of icecicles by the time I got to school. I specifically remember getting to the top of the hill and crossing Broadway where the snow had been plowed up from the street and it would easily be 3-4 feet high. Back then we didn't get a lot of snow days in Colorado... or at least in Englewood.

Some of my high school classmates have recently reminded me that we pretty much always have snow by Halloween and most of growing up, it would be snowing on Halloween. I don't remember much about Halloween's growing up but I've been told that in Colorado it's normal to plan the costume around the winter coat.

For college I moved to Michigan. By mid-October of my freshman year I was starting to wonder if snow would EVER come. I was so disappointed to find out that the snow starts much later there... Usually around or a little after Thanksgiving. Living in the dorms, there was an access tunnel from the one dormitory building to the one academic (classroom) building. When there was snow, I would put on my coat and walk outside. I remember one girl telling me, "Look, Crystal, I like to walk to class with you but you're making it really hard. Why do you have to walk outside." It so happens that I love snow (the way Holly loves llamas). So I told her that if she wanted to walk with me, she should find her coat.

Sophomore year I lived in a town about 20-30 minutes (in good weather and no traffic) south of the school. One thing to know about Michigan is that the snow is much wetter there than in Colorado. Lake-effect snow. The ground would often be iced over within an hour of the snowfall starting. One day I went home after classes and the weather was clear. I had about 3 hours before I had to be back up north for dinner at someone's house. By the time I walked outside to leave 2.5 hours later there was several inches of snow on my car. Cleared off the car and made my way to the highway to head north. There were already cars in the ditch. So, I got my first taste of driving on icy Michigan roads in a snow storm. I made it safely but it took me over an hour... I think it was close to an hour and a half. Much worse than driving in a Colorado blizzard (and yes, Rebecca, that counts the one last year). I was so done with driving by the time I arrived that I said, "I hope no one needs to get out of the driveway (around my car) any time soon. I'm done driving." Sure enough, a short while later someone needed out. Thankfully someone else offered (or rather gestured to just hand over my keys) to move the car for me.

One more story...

After I graduated from college I was volunteering with middle school students at church (back in Colorado). We left on a Friday night for our annual winter retreat about 3 hours away. The youth pastor left early because he had some responsibilities getting various churches checked in. No middle school boys were going that year so it was me and about 4 or 5 middle school girls in an old Dodge van. One girl had an incredibly high-pitched scream. We headed down Crow hill and she was sitting backward on the most forward bench seat. She slid backward... and screamed. She also landed on the foam cooler of beverages and broke it. And screamed again. I don't remember all of the reasons for screaming on that trip. Other girls screamed here and there, too. It was probably mostly normal middle school stuff. The weather was clear and dry for the most part. We got almost to the camp and, like every other year, I missed the turn off to the main entrance for the camp and ended up at the service entrance. Turn the van around on the washboard roads and head back to the turn off. There was a lot of screaming during the turn around. I don't really remember why. I suspect that people (not seated properly on the bench seats) were not well anchored so the back and forth of the (probably more than 3-point turn) likely jarred them a few times. I was so aggravated by the time we parked at the camp that I ordered everyone to stay in the van - no reasons for any exceptions. I marched into the registration room, looked at the youth pastor and said, "Tell me where to put these screaming children." He just said, "This is not a good way to start out the weekend." We started unloading (mountains) of luggage. As the girls hauled in luggage (first trip), I was pulling pulling out someone's luggage to help them out and it started snowing. I looked up, smiled, and said, "You think you are so funny." I think God was laughing pretty hard. If He has sides, they probably hurt. Snow will pretty much always make me happy. The girls were very confused about the change in mood... but you should always have a way to make middle school girls wonder and ask questions.