Snow Party

In the early 80's we experienced an economic recession similar to what we are experienceing now. The closing of International Harvestar and Firestone affected our family as well as our closest friends, but to a kid we never knew the difference. What we did know, however, is that it was winter and from January to April we all prayed for the possibilities of snow. The simplest whisper of the word would have every child's eyes glued to Dave Brown's forecast. The very idea of getting out of school to spend a day of play in a winter wonderland was enough to drive a kid mad.

One particular winter the rumors proved to be true. There was a front coming out of the West with a small chance of early morning flurries. The always pesimisic Dave Brown with his "no accumilation" speech lingered in our heads that night as we went to bed. What we woke up to, on the other hand, was that of a blanket of snow. I ran into the living room as the list of school closings were being read off. Mason County schools closed, Memphis City schools closed.....My lesson in alphabetical order was paying off because I knew that are county was coming up, and finally, "Shelby County schools closed." A rush of excitement and adventure filled my mind as I hurried to get dress for my snow day.

Given the layoffs times were tough, but my family, the Sparks, and the Luhms always stuck together and a snow day was no different. We all gathered what little food we had and met at the Luhm's house on Oakhurst. Out of the three represented familes we cooked up a smorgusborg of Chili, hotdogs, soup, sandwiches, and other snack items. We had our very own recession proof Snow Party. After stuffing our faces we managed to dress ourselves in as many layors of clothing as possible and headed outside. There were six of us kids along with my dad, Mr. Otto, and Mr. Steve. We played football, made snow men, and had snow ball fights. The dads would hook up all of our sleds to Mr. Otto's lawn mower and pull us around the yard like a train while trying to shake us off. Oakhurst Rd. is famous for its hills which made for some perfect down hill sledding. All in all we did a pretty good job of unmasking that white powder and revealing the ground below.

Finally we would all make our way back inside, peel off the mounds of wet clothing, endulge in some oh so perfect hot chocolate, and reminence on the fun we'd just had.
Looking back what made that day so special wasn't the fact that it snowed. We could've easily stayed at home and done our own thing. It wasn't just another day off from school. What made this day so special was that regardless of the situation my parents and their friends were in, they wanted us kids to enjoy the magic of a snow day just as they once did. They wanted to celebrate this day of hope in a time of the unknown. I am so thankful that our parents saw hope instead of despair, and as an outcome we experienced another outstanding childhood memory.

-Steve Childress