My Ever Evolving Relationship with Snow

Snow isn't my thing. 
In my homeland snow=cold mud. 

I was raised in Milan, New Mexico. It is super exotic. I grew up right next to a train track, and a mesa. My neighbors were City Glass, Village Pottery, and the Allsup's across the street. Fancy shmancy.

The thing that defined my landscape was dirt. And rocks. And gravel. And dirt. 

New Mexico isn't known for our snow. At least not the part I grew up in. We were known more for our prisons. We had four of them of varying variety and severeness.

When it did snow we usually had two hour delays. And sometimes it meant snow days. That meant no school. On these days my older brother Clifton would go outside and scoop up a bunch of snow in a plastic pitcher. He would make vanilla snow-ice cream, which is delicious. He would divy the goodness out to each of us in the bottom of a cup. Mmmmmm. Snow ice-cream. 

Snow clothes have come a long way in one generation.

After that nutritious breakfast, we would don our snow apparel. This was a delicate science forged through the years by "The Big Boys." The three older brothers possessed wisdom that was passed down to us "little kids." We did not debate it, we simply lived it. The wardrobe that stood the test of times consisted of double socks, jackets, gloves if you could find them, tube socks if you couldn't, and the plastic bread sacks over the shoes and tied with a rubber-band at the ankle.  My brothers would go outside, and try to make a giant snow-man. They enlisted us all as helpers. We would clear the one inch snow off all our land every time to try to make that giant snow man.  Then, we come back inside with clothes that were completely soaked. These jeans, socks, and jackets would take ALL day to dry, so really we only went out in the snow once and we would stay out as long as we could stand it. 

My experience with snow went downhill from here. And not downhill in the sledding, skiing kind of way. It went downhill in the metaphorical horrible way.

There was the high school cross country meet where it snowed on me out on the golf course. During my heat, it started raining a little bit right when the gun went off, but it wasn't much to worry about. We didn't bother layering up since rain was usually light and it was the afternoon. I was wearing nothing but a singlet and the little running shorts. You know, those running clothes made to be as close to nothing as possible. The rain turned into slushy snow, and by the end of the race it was all out giant snow flakes. I ended up with mild hypothermia, and my hands haven't really been the same sense. For about 10 years after that race, my fingers will occasionally lose circulation if they get cold.

Avoid snow at all cost. 

I did a great job until I went to Provo for college. Even then, I didn't really spend time in the snow except to walk to and from class. 

I have without a doubt experienced more snow in the past two weeks than in my entire life combined. But guess what? It's not the horrific evil of mother nature that I previously thought.

It's nice. It is beautiful in a so bright it burns my eyes kind of way.

Watching our first snow fall in Nebraska.

In Nebraska the snow stays COLD. Like, really, really cold. The cold is cold, but I have a fluffy jacket, a hat that covers my ears, and gigantic mittens, so I don't mind the cold so much. The cold allows the snow to stay snowy. It doesn't turn into awful muddy slushcicles, or muddy ice ponds, or other cold, muddy matter. I am sure that day will come, but meanwhile I live in a beautiful white winter wonderland.  The wind kind of blows the snow around, and we sled on it. And, I've learned how to make my own glaciers. It is easy. I will tell you how. 

Directions for Homemade Glaciers:

1) Allow snow to fall for one whole day and one whole night. 
2) Then, don't shovel your driveway for 3 days. 
3) Drive up and down on it, applying pressure with your car tires. The more pressure applied, the more sturdy you glaciers will be.
4) Allow the snow to fall again
5) Repeat the driving on the snow thing.
6) Try to shovel your driveway. Tada! Homemade glaciers. 

You're welcome.