I was watching the morning news this morning while sucking down my protein shake. Normally I am writing a story for a different publication at this Godly hour but I wanted to catch the weather forecast as it seems to be the top news today. I found it odd that our newscaster said “blizzard warning” in certain parts of Arizona. I caught myself laughing a tad and it got me thinking….

 When I was a small kid, I would see it on TV. This weird thing called snow. Apparently it was flaky and cold and caused cars to collide in to one another, still. You could take a thing called a sleigh and apparently ride down hills. You could also make a thing called snow angels by laying down in the white cold powdery substance and spreading your arms and legs back and fourth.

 As a child I sure would wait for this white fluffy stuff to fall and I could play in it. I was fascinated by snow. Maybe it was because I was born in Tucson in 1958, the year that Tucson received 6.4 inches of snow during an unusual snow event in the desert southwest. Maybe as my mother passed that pleasure and information to me while I was still in the womb. What I know is I loved something dearly that Tucson had very little of, SNOW!

my house in 1966

 I have pictures of me as a young toddler in Mt Lemmon in some sort of bizarre snow suit playing in the snow. You could see even at the age of two or three, snow and I went hand in hand. There was always a smile on my face in all those pictures. For Tucson getting so little snow, there are a series of pictures of me growing up in the snow.

 As I got into school, me and some of my playmates used to get together and focus on snow in hopes that it would snow and schools would close. Yes indeed, as a kid growing up, if it snowed for more than 15 minutes it seemed like schools would closed. We crazy Tucsonans do not know what to do with this white fluffy stuff. Clearly we do not know how to drive in it, so why should we go to school in it!?

 As a kid I did not understand weather, all I knew was each night I would hope it got cold enough to snow. I felt disappointed each day I looked out the window and there was no snow. One year I believe I was in 4^th grade my parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I simply said snow. I am surprised my parents did not tell me then and there that they were Santa. Instead they said, “We’ll let Santa know.” I remember that because that Christmas it was sunny and rather warm and I asked my parents if they told Santa, and my mother said, “Oh dear I forgot.” I was able to forgive Santa that way.

 I did love it when school closed on snow days. It happened perhaps 3 or 4 times through out my 12 years of school. I figured I would outgrow this fascination with snow, however I am over 50 now and that fascination still stays with me. When it snowed in 2007, I had video cameras and cameras and I was driving and video taping at the same time. I simply had to record the snow. I do so every time it snows.

 I, like that child was disappointed this morning when I awoke to just a wet sidewalk and my backyard a little damp. Parts of Arizona have a blizzard warning and I have a slightly damp backyard. Don’t get me wrong, I do not want snow everyday like in Main or Michigan. No thanks! But snow a few times a year just for a few hours would be nice. There is nothing like our beautiful cactus covered in snow.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 7:17 am and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.