Big Snow by Kelly Hardy
In 1967, when I was 3, my family was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Califonia, when my grandparents sent a photo of an historic event in Dallas- a record snowfall of 7 inches. My mother reminded me of that photo as we talked on the phone during the recent record snow. My children were witnessing history. They adore snow, and are becoming fine skiers. I prefer to train hard at sipping Irish coffee, but I picked them
up at school armed with boots, parkas and hats, and learned what a lot of joy a little frozen water can add to the day. We all had fun throwing snowballs, making angels and catching snowflakes on our tongues. There were dozens of us middle-aged kids playing with the same abandon as our children. I live with naturally gifted engineers. My house if filled with structures created from Legos, Tupperware, scotch tape, pillows, boxes dominoes and scraps stolen from Daddy’s shop. It was no surprise when Britney announced her plan to build an igloo on Friday. We sat on the porch debating technique, hot chocolate and Irish coffee in hand. She couldn’t cut ice blocks as the Inuit do, so she rolled snowballs. Big ones. Stacking them up, she employed her brother with packing the chinks with snow mortar. The walls grew high, but she
realized the snow was too soft to support a keystone construction for the roof, so she grabbed scrap lumber from the shop and made ceiling joists. She has lived in a
construction zone most of her life, and it shows! With the wood covered in snow, the igloo was finished. Passersby stopped to admire and take pictures. Snowball fights occurred. It was glorious. We share the sadness for both lost trees and property damage, but both scientifically and in the life of our family, this was day for the record books. Some winter when my kids are grown and far away, I will send them pictures of this happy day. We hope you had fun, too.