Snow, snow, snow--let it snow!

Snow in the Smokies

Granted, I like it better now that I don't have to drive on the interstate or 40 or 50 miles to work twice a day but even when I did have to drive further and longer in it--I still loved it.

The first real snow of the year is the best. And, I mean real snow, at least one inch stuck to the ground or it doesn't count.

My daughters were born in October 1978--the time many "blizzard babies" arrived thanks to the blizzard of 1977. Technically, my daughters were a couple of weeks later but they were still always called "Blizzard babies."

Back then I was a newlywed living in an apartment on the northwest side of Indianapolis and married to a newspaper editor. Even he couldn't get to work during that two day period.

My favorite memory of that blizzard is of my dog "Rags," an Australian/collie mix who ran up a snow drift without falling into it. It reached nearly to the roof of our apartment building which was a two story building.

It wasn't until we tried to get her to come down that she slipped into the snow and we had to shovel her out. She wasn't too crazy about the snow after that experience.

I moved to Florida not long after that and didn't experience another blizzard for a decade. My daughters, who were two when we moved to the sunny south, loved coming home to Greenfield and my parents' house every Christmas. Chances were always good that it would snow sometime during the week we were here.

That meant toboggan rides in the local park which has an extra big manmade sledding hill and ice skating at the gravel pit with a big bonfire burning. There were times when they refused to get in the car to head back to sunny Florida.

Because we love the Smoky Mountains so much, we often drove through the National Park on our way to Indiana or way back to Florida. Chances were always good that in case it hadn't snowed in Indiana over our Christmas break, we could get a snowball or two on the overlook in the Smokies.

My son who has lived his whole life in Indiana loves the cold and snow too. Just tonight despite the ice and cold he took our newest family member--Roadie--for his nightly walk.

Roadie who came to live with us just before Thanksgiving is a lovely, big mix of black lab and Australian shepherd. He seems like the perfect dog for a romp in the snow--but no. Roadie doesn't like getting his paws wet. If it is raining or wet, he would just as soon stay inside in front of the fireplace. It is a sign of his devotion and love of my son that he will venture out on his nightly walk when it is rainy or snowy.

While I wish everyone safe journey's to and from wherever they need to go in the snow and ice tonight, I hope you will also take a moment to inhale deeply and breathe in the crisp, clean breath of a snow coated world and listen to the incredible quiet that overcomes everything when there is snow covering our world. It is a wondrous thing.