Snow Days

In the predawn hours on weekday winter mornings with snowdrifts peeking through the first floor windows and icicles hanging perilously from the eaves, my daddy would get up to drive my brother on his paper route. The darkness was freezing, the driving treacherous, and my brother was always slow to rise and resentful of leaving his warm bed. My daddy waited patiently, drinking his morning coffee and smoking a Lucky Strike in the dimly lit kitchen - if he would have preferred a few extra hours of sleep himself, he never mentioned it.

It took the better part of two hours to complete the route and by the time they were back the house would have begun to stir. The sun would be up and the morning routines in motion. If we were lucky enough to get a snow day, we could all return to snug beds, except my daddy who would head to work in any weather. Later in the morning we'd begin the slow process of digging out, shoveling a pathway to the sidewalk and clearing the driveway, always alert for the plows. We were resigned to the fact that hours of shoveling could be undone in a moment by the snowplow's rasping blades and we prayed for a driver who might lift the plow blades as he passed, although this rarely happened. The salt trucks followed soon after, their dull roaring was deafening as they sent out sprays of salt crystals onto the icy streets. Snowbound kids and dogs were everywhere by afternoon and snowmen, snowforts, and snow castles were erected in yard after yard. Snowball fights erupted regularly and were fought with the singular intensity and enthusiasm of children granted an unexpectedly holiday. By nightfall, traffic died off and the streets took on a postcard quality - snowdrifts several feet high gleamed under the reflections of the street lamps and the air was so cold it burned your lungs and numbed your hands and feet. It became very still and quiet as if the day had gone to bed and the night had just woken to discover a new and stunning landscape.

Such days were glorious for children and nightmares for adults.