Snow Daze

March approaches, yet winter's ugly head appears uglier.

I can't believe how much snow we've gotten within a span of 3 months. So much so that NYC was compelled to close public schools twice within a month. Traveling through the city mess was extremely unpleasant. I stayed with T in Harlem yesterday and the scariest part of our trek home was walking down the steep, slushy hill to Broadway. A normally 10 minute walk doubled to 20 with the icy conditions.

I remember the excitement of getting a snow day. Back when we were in school, it was a RARE treat to wake up early and catch radio or tv announcing a school closing. Most of the time, NYC kept schools open during major snowstorms. I think we may have prided ourselves on the fact that we would courageously make it to school unlike our NJ counterparts, who shut down at the mere forecast of flurries. Ah, character building.

I must have been twelve or thirteen when probably the biggest blizzard I could remember kept us indoors for two whole days. When the snow stopped and my parents tried to open our garage, we were barricaded by over two feet of snow, possibly more due to the drift. The snow was so high, we were basically stepping into a snow coffin.

Today I thought about how we managed without our convenient snow blower. Granted, we still use our shovels but once a foot hits the ground, we pull out the Craftsman.

What did we even do on our snow days? Watch tv probably. That was really all there was to worry about anyway at that age. If only it were that simple now.