SNOWY MEMORIES

Last night, after being quite snow deprived for the month of January, Rockford was blessed with a lovely blanket of the white stuff. I was delighted. I guess I'm a true Illinois native.

Yesterday, Nils celebrated his fifth birthday. One of his gifts was a new sled- of course, it had to be tried out today. The kids and mom and dad were having a great time in the snow until Mr. I'm Not Afraid Of Anything decided to try to take a swim in the icy Rock River. Much to his dismay, he didn't get very far before mommy grabbed him and took him in the house. So much for any more sled time today.

The sledding business reminded me of another snow adventure that actually took place one year ago this weekend. It was at a time when I was helping take care of a different little boy. It was the weekend before my little Zavier was to move across the country. We had just received a huge amount of snow, and it was bitterly cold. On that particular Saturday, Zavier's mommy had an appointment, so I had the privilege of going sledding with daddy and the kids.

Our first order of business was to buy a sled. No problem- Kmart here we come! We all tromped inside to find the desired piece of equipment...hmmm....sold out. That's o.k. becacause Walmart is right across the street! This time I stayed in the car with the kids. Daddy walked in and walked back out. No sleds at Walmart either. We were not to be highly discouraged. So what if everybody in town had the same idea after the big snowfall. That wasn't going to stop us. On to Hobbytown.....Big Lots....Menards....Discouragement was starting to set in. Jesse was starting to get frantic.

"Why doesn't anybody have sleds? We're not going to be able to sled. Why is this happening?"

Sophie took the cue from her brother.

"We're just going to have to go home."

Zavier, the youngest, from his carseat, was more concerned about himself than the actual sledding.

"My butt hurts."

There were many tears from the three of them by the time we pulled into the Target parking lot. This would be our last try. Again I waited in the car with the unhappy trio, trying to be positive.

"It's o.k., guys, if we can't sled, we can still play in the snow. We can build a snowman and have a snowball fight."

Nobody cared. Sledding would not happen. The carseat was uncomfortable. They had all been sitting back there for an hour and an half. Life was highly depressing.

And then it happened. Out of Target came daddy. And he had a bag in his hands. Was it possible? Did one store in this snow covered city have sleds for three distraught children?
Oh, the cries of happines that poured forth as we drove away from Target. Three sleds! Treasures beyond compare! Even if they were the weird kind that you have to roll out to sit on. No problem. We were going to sled!

But first we had to eat. I was starving. Daddy was starving. The kids weren't really starving, but they could wait a few more minutes. So, we had Beef -a-Roo and then went to the big hill.

We were bundled up. We had our sleds. Up the hill we began to trudge. And then the cold wind hit me. What were we doing? Who cared if the sun was shining? The wind was freezing! The wind chill had to be ridiculously low. Zavier began to cry. We were at the top of the hill. Daddy and Zavier climbed on a sled and headed down the hill. Jesse couldn't get the sled to stay unrolled so that he could get on- life was depressing again. I was trying to help Sophie unroll her sled. Daddy and Zavier were coming back up the hill. Zavier was crying louder.
Jesse hated his sled. Did Sophie make it down? I don't remember. Maybe once. Nobody went down more than once. I think Jesse only made it halfway. I walked down, trying to calm Zavier. He was so cold. We climbed into the car. Zavier was sobbing uncontrollably at this point. Jesse was crying, wondering why we had come sledding in the first place. Sophie was crying. I was not crying, but I was freezing. I couldn't feel my fingers. I think that was Zavier's problem, too- hence, lots of screaming. How do you explain that feeling or no feeling to a 3 year old?

After several hours we were taking Jesse and Sophie home. Then we had to pick up mommy from her spa appointment. Undoubtedly, she must have had a better day than we did. Zavier was much calmer. No more tears. He could feel his hands again. Life was so much better. His little voice piped up loud and clear,

"This was a great day."

A great day....well, I might use a different adjective.....crazy...bizarre....loud.....memorable.
I obviously didn't forget much of it after a year. Any thought of sledding makes me laugh. I don't know if I'll be trying out the birthday sled. I might just watch- and try to keep Nils out of the river.