I never knew that to wholly enjoy a snow storm, you must run
across the hill in bare feet and launch out on the rope swing into the swirling
snowflakes. Coats are undesirable.
I never knew that it is necessary to stay up till midnight
crafting a three room igloo to sleep out in the snow, on fir bough
beds. It may, however, be necessary, if
you’re a girl, to come in at 4 or 5 am if the temperature is not low enough and
your body heat melted the surrounding snow so that you woke up in a soaked
sleeping bag. If you’re a boy, you are
oblivious to this discomfort.
I never knew that a tractor was a necessary component of
building snow caves. You see, if you
live in Seattle where 6 inches of snow is a gold mine of white building
material, and you are blessed with an inventive mind (and are most likely a
man-son), you just clamp a 2x12 into the backhoe, sweep the driveway into a
pile, and engage the front loader, burying alive your little sister so she can dig out a dome from the
inside, creating a fantastic snow cave. You
might need to alert your sensitive and protective dog, however, so that she
doesn’t decipher danger in the proceedings and begin digging out the buried
girl, as ours did, almost collapsing the whole enterprise.
I never knew that frozen winter ponds were not just for
ducks but for rope pulls and skiing –and spring ponds without any wind for the
sails on the boat were for leaf blower-power.
I never knew that new frontiers must be perpetually found
and conquered, even if they are just scaling the ancient maple that loses a limb big as a
tree in every storm. And I never knew it
was necessary that a teenage daughter must climb 100+ feet up into the grandpa cedar to
view the surrounding kingdoms – or that she would come back down to terra firma in one piece after all.
I never knew that children would be such a magnificent joy, “full of
the wine of life… and my most gorgeous adventure” (unknown author, story
reprinted by Joe Wheeler)
No comments:
Post a Comment