Snow Days

I am a "southern girl," and having two really good snows in the same winter is something of a rarity to us in South Arkansas. Many of my friends and I agree that we love having snow but really would not like living in a place where snow isn't "special." I am just enchanted with the sight of it, and the feel of it falling on me...it doesn't hurt when it hits me, and it doesn't get me wet if I brush it off.  But the other thing I really, really love about snow falling, is the SOUND of it. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? I simply must go outside during the thick of things and just listen...It's a very different sound than rain or sleet, or, certainly hail. It's ice, but it's not. Snow is soft, and it lands on some surfaces soundlessly, but on others in a little "sploofy" sound. I love to hear it as it drifts onto and through the leaves that haven't yet fallen... It's like what my inside little-girl-self thinks of as the sound "magic dust" would make as a fairy godmother grants a wish. Oh, yes, there is still that little girl inside. Aren't you in touch with the one inside you? (unless you're a guy, of course, but even a guy would get it!) I remember being just a little girl, probably around three, and I was looking out the back door, staring at something I just couldn't figure out. It was just sifting down at the time, and after watching it for a few minutes, I finally went to my mama and asked, "Mama, why are all those mosquitoes falling out of the sky?" I really remember that and how my parents laughed! I also remember getting bundled up in my snowsuit and my little hat with a pom-pom on top, and going out to experience the snow. There are still pictures of me somewhere...I will have to dig them out and show them to the "grands." Oh, and who doesn't remember snow-cream! Daddy would take a big pan and go out to find the cleanest, freshest snow and Mama would mix up that sweet, vanilla-laced concoction, and we would truly celebrate the day. When my own children were growing up, we carried on the traditions of those wonderful days ...snow families, snow ice cream, snow fights, sledding.. and now they are passing on the magic of snow days to their children. All I can say is, "Beautiful."