I don’t know what it is ‘bout the first significant snow fall of the year, it seems to have some kind of rejuvenating effect on me, if only for a little while. There’s something about waking up early in the morning when all is quiet and the ground is covered in white. The sound of the few cars that make their way down my block is muffled. The only imprints in the snow are those of neighborhood cats, squirrels, birds and other assorted critters you might expect to find in the ‘burbs. That’s what me and borgette awoke to this Sunday…
Although this snow fall paled in comparison as far as amounts go to one I’ve written about earlier, nevertheless, there was fun to be had.
It didn’t start out that way though…
I awoke early, as is my wont, and decided to get my fix of the daily news and was greeted with the news about the capture of Saddam Hussein. Being somewhat of a news junkie, I planned to spend most of the day either absorbing all of the views of the various pundits and then , conclude my Sunday ritual by watching football and doing assorted chores around the house.
Borgette had other plans…
After coming downstairs and seeing the snow it was all I could do to shovel some breakfast in her before she wanted to go out and wreak havoc with the other kids in the neighborhood. The action started at about 10:30 and kept up until 1:00 or so when most all of the other kids went home for lunch. I had not yet ventured outside and was, instead, content to idle away my afternoon.
Did a kid ever pester you? Jeez, you’d think that winter was about to be over or we were moving to Phoenix or that that somehow mother nature would forget the recipe needed to make snow.
And so it was that I ventured outdoors at about 3:30 in the afternoon and got involved in a snowball fight of epic proportions. At first, it started out slowly. A few tentative tosses of snow back and forth between a father and his daughter but then the kid radar must have gone up and soon we were surrounded by about 6 or 7 kids from around the block. We must have started sounding like we were having fun because a couple of parents from around the neighborhood decided to put on their winter gear and join in the fun.
When all was said and done, we had about 15 people randomly tossing snowballs at each other as we hid behind trees and cars and any other place might have offered up some form of protection. Naturally, I tried focusing in on my kid and I think I hit her just about as many times as Montana hit Rice.
This kept up for a couple of hours – I took the kids inside, made some hot chocolate, put their wet clothes over the heating vents and in the dryer and eventually sent them on their way.
Later, since I was little worn out, my kid and I ordered a pizza and settled in to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, a first for her.
I remember climbing the stairs to put her to bed and tuck her in. Amid the various aches and pains the come with aging, I thought to myself, “No adult should be allowed to have this much fun.”
A final note, yesterday, the school called and made me pick her up early since she was running a fever and they thought she might be coming down with the flu. I was stiff and sore and felt the return of a massive head cold that I’ve been battling. I attribute some of it to running around like idiots in the snow and getting drenched. It was all worth it.