Snow - white, beautiful, WET!!

Excitement abounds and everyone scurries for multiple pairs of socks, pants, sweaters, gloves, caps and a jacket. Those layers are quickly shed as they get hot sledding, running and playing in the snow so items are left in the snow to soak up the moisture and either be left behind forgotten until the first spring mowing or gathered up and plopped by the door thawing and leaving wet, muddy puddles.

The same word produces varying results in different people depending upon their perspective formed from their prior experiences.

Someone from Colorado may think of the dry powdery fall and winter snow that is perfect for skiing or of the wet slippery spring snow.

From Louisiana or Texas, one may envision that very temporarily pretty white stuff that quickly becomes an ugly brown muddy mess on the roads because it’s gone almost as quickly as it falls.

From the Ozarks, we have had varying depths of snow and it is usually accompanied by wet slippery conditions.

For many years, we lived on top of a steep hill and the children, as they aged, increased their bravery by how high on the hill they would begin their descent.

Sometimes, the sled would increase in speed enough that they couldn’t slow their descent and would end up almost in the “branch” - a stream running through the pasture.

Yes, snow is beautiful.

Sledding can be fun.

But, sometimes people don’t see the work behind the fun.

Many times we’ve had to cajole an obviously-freezing child inside to warm up even as they continued to protest that they weren’t cold. Theirlittle checks were red, frost adorn their eyebrows, and their noses were running.. they couldn’t feel their fingers and toes, but continued to protest that they weren’t cold.

Coming inside by a wood fire, we would peel off the wet layers, hanging clothes all around to dry and wrap the little ones in warm clothes, prepare soup and warm them up.

But, then the process would start all over again and they’d find dry clothes and redress and begin.

I do like the snow, but know that it is accompanied with mounds of laundry and muddy floors.

Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 01/12/2011