I Am Thankful for Almost Having Snow

Okay, folks…. I’m here in the south and snow is a real treat for us.  Perhaps, it is more of a treat for me than for the kids in the neighborhood.  And, I definitely know I am among only a handful of adults who eagerly anticipate a snowfall.  Maybe I spent too many years in Denver.  But, after growing up on the beach where the best we could ever hope for was a winter sweater — not a real coat, my first winter in Beaver Creek, Colorado was as exciting as if I were a six year old.

Now, living here in Chattanooga sometimes it seems that we don’t really get the best of winter or the best of summer.  We don’t have a beach.  Some folks go to the river during the summer months and there is a little patch of sand — imported from somewhere, I suppose — that people around here call “beach.” 

My first year here someone had heard me talking about growing up on the beach.  I suppose they were all trying to be real nice so they invited me to the “beach.”  I was so excited that I forgot to ask any questions —- like where is this beach?  Well, I got out a map and figured at best we were several hours from the Gulf of Mexico and at least 12 hours from my beach.  The next morning when we got in the car — I should have noticed I was the only one with a suitcase — I guess I looked like a bit of a fool.

When we pulled off the four-lane and headed down a little dirt road beside the bridge I didn’t want to embarrass myself by acting as if I were surprised.  And, there it was.  A little tiny strip of sand, the Tennessee River, and a float about 20 feet out into the water.  People were already jumping off the float into the water.

My disappointment must have been showing — and I wasn’t really too good at hiding it.  “How do you like the beach?”  Well, what could I say?  “What beach?”  I smiled and said nothing for a while.

Finally the friend once again asked how I liked the “beach.”  It was one of those times in life when you don’t want to lie, but you can’t tell the whole truth.  I used words like “different” and “unique.”  I think I said “interesting” a few times.  But, even with my best choice of words I was not sounding too thrilled.

Finally, after being pressed more than was comfortable for me I had to explain that I had just never been to a beach where you could see the land on the other side.  I sat down on the “beach blanket” and opened a soda — wishing it were something much stronger.  I will never forget the new friend coming over to me as I sulked by myself.  “What did you mean when you said you haven’t seen a beach with land on the other side?”  I realized she had never seen the ocean.  To her, that was the beach.

Anyway, the other side of living in the middle of the south is that there isn’t much snow.  The schools were all closed here today because they thought it might snow.  Yep!  The grocery market has been low on bread all week.  The milk shelves are pretty well depleted — and the eggs, too.  Sometimes I think the weatherman says it is going to snow just to boost sagging sales.

This morning I was up early anticipating the snow.  In fact, I was up before the neighborhood kids could get outside to hold a snow hunt — kinda like an Easter egg hunt.  The first one to see a flake of snow becomes something like Paul Revere.  I was hoping for that honor this morning.

By 6:00 a.m. I was making my second pot of coffee, totally miffed with the weather man as if it were his fault there was no snow.  Well, in a way it was his fault.  He is the one who had been telling us that it was going to be here.  And, it wasn’t!  I paced between the window and the television, ready to see the first snow flake so I could call the weather man and tell him it had started.

The longer I looked out the window, the more he moved the ETA back.  Once the schools had announced all the closures the weather man could chill out for a while.  Mission accomplished.  Then, all we had to do was wait.  By 11:00 I was still waiting and drifting between the window, the television and the bathroom — had finished the second pot of coffee.

Well, the anticipation was much more exciting than the arrival.  Of course, I can remember going on family trips when I was a kid with my parents.  As many times as I asked if we were there yet, the trip was all too often more exciting than visiting another old house and garden — my mom’s favorite pastime. 

So, to be honest our sidewalk was not even really covered with the dusting we got.  The “snowflakes” looked like shivers of insulation more than like snow.  And, by the time I had gathered the neighborhood kids for hot chocolate before going out to “play” in the snow the dog had peed on the only  patch of snow we had.  That was okay.  The leaves were still visible on the ground.  I did watch a couple of kids trying to slide down a small hill on something that resembled a garbage can lid.  It didn’t work for them.  The handle on top of the lid — the bottom of the make-believe sled — got stuck in the wet ground.

Then, I got a nice email from Niels about overalls.  I was getting ready to watch the President tell us about terror again.  But, I thought about Niels in Norway.  Bet he has time to make hot chocolate before the snow melts.

Well, folks, the best I can do today in all honesty is to be thankful for almost having snow.  It was fun planning for it and looking for it all day.

Tagged as: Gratitude Journal, Online gratitude journal