For the Love of Snow

One of the worst things that could happen to a guy in elementary school, at least where I grew up, was to come in from recess with wet pants. Not wet from rain, puddles or other unpleasantness, but from getting too wrapped up in the snow.

It was cold and caused discomfort but it got even worse. We would have to go to the bathroom take our pants off and wear a coat around our waist while our pants draped on the heating vents to dry out. We would tease the victim and it could cause you to miss the next recess or chance of playing in the gym.

Snow was a pure delight.

One year we had a tremendous snow fall and all the snow got piled up in the play ground and we suddenly had our own personal hill. We climbed, slid and made jumps.

Someone discovered some boxes that were stacked up by the burning bin. We appropriated them for our use and we had a regular sled run using the boxes as our sleds. This not only kept us dry but it also increased the speed quite a bit.

Since there were not enough boxes to go around, getting out first at recess was very important. In fact, I found that there were some girls who didn't have any boxes to slide on. It turned out that one in particular wanted to come along for the ride - on my piece of cardboard! My motivation to get a box increased substantially after that. Ah the joy of sliding down the snow with your love hanging on tight.

As nature intended, a warm wind from the Pacific found it's way through the mountain passes of British Columbia and swept across the plains to our personal snow hill. The warm Chinook winds melted my snow hill and stymied my romantic ambitions.