Looks Like It Might Snow Tomorrow

January 1, 2017

The forecast is for light snow tomorrow afternoon.

Well. it's January.

It's Minnesota.

I'd be concerned if there were no snow.

Where I grew up in

New Mexico,

January was cold and "snowy."

Most of the time, if you wanted to play in the snow, you had to drive to the nearby mountains 

to find snow.

Sometimes, we'd wake up to what we Minnesotans would call a

"light dusting"

in the city.

That was great!

Roads were closed.

Even better,

SCHOOLS were closed and we had a free day!

Everyone was urged to stay home and NOT go out.

Our parents would make us put on our light weight boots.

We didn't own snow boots.,

and they would watch, anxiously, as we ever so slowly

crossed the street to join our friends on the playground.

They didn't want us to fall.

If anyone had a sled,

we'd try to make it slide across the mixture of sand, rocks, and snow.

This was early morning.

Most days, most of the snow would be melted by afternoon.

The next day, we'd be back at school remembering our day off school.

Many years later, I married and moved away to North Dakota.

That was a terrible experience.

If I insult any of you from that state,
I'm not sorry.

My experience there was awful!

I was so glad when we moved.

The winters were long.

The snow was terrible

The people were naive, closed minded, and unkind.

It was brutal.

Things were a bit better in the "cities," rather than the small towns.  

I have no illusions about the "romance" of small towns.zin

We lived in Grand Forks.

I've never been back to that state.

Nor, will I ever go back.

I don't understand how anyone can call that place home.

Now, by choice, I live in a relatively "small" town in Minnesota,

about 80,000 residents, I think.

At least, the residents here are more opened minded than the people I had to deal with back then.

 I've come to call this place

"Home."

I hadn't thought about this in years.

Isn't it amazing what can be buried in the sands of time?

I guess, in this case, we should say the 

snows of time.

Well, enough.

The new year has begun.

It IS going to snow tomorrow.

I'm glad I'm here.