Growing Up Southern

Jack and I were awakened Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. by Julianna, who was jumping up and down next to our bed and bubbling: "Did it snow? Did it snow?"

I told her to go look out the window, and seconds later we heard a shriek: "Oh, yeah! Big time snow!"

There was no going back to sleep after that ... at least not for her. She came into our room every 30 minutes or so, asking when we could go outside and play.

By 8:30 a.m., Julianna absolutely, positively could not wait any longer. She bundled up and traipsed into the backyard by herself to explore. First she grabbed at it, then she knelt in it, then she skipped through it. She was having a blast until, finally, the the cold temperature forced her back inside.

Just two hours later she was ready to go again, so we all headed out to look for a sledding hill in our neighborhood. We found a spot around the corner from our house and did a little sledding, which was fun but pretty tame compared to the time at Beech Mountain. Soon after the sledding ended, a "no holds barred" family snowball fight erupted on the side of the road.

LJ, by the way, is a very quick study in the art of snowball making.

The snow even brought us together with our neighbors, the Trans. Although we see them occasionally and wave to each other from across the street, our kids have never really played together until today. Julianna made fast friends with their little girl, Kiley, and LJ enjoyed trying to build a snowman with them. (He finally went inside, disgusted, after I told him not to throw any more snowballs at the girls).

For those who live in colder climates, I'm sure it is difficult to fathom why we North Carolinians create such hysteria over a few flakes.

But it's one of the joys of growing up Southern ... we hardly ever get snow here, so when we do, we revel in it.

I heard on the local news that Tuesday's 3 1/2 inches was the most snow we've had in Raleigh in the last five years.

That means, that, in Julianna's lifetime (and most of LJ's), they have never seen a significant amount of snowfall.

I know that, to many of you, a few inches of snow may not seem like much. But in my family, at least, this small amount of precipitation amounted to a pretty "big time" event.

Let it snow!
















Our home on Country Charm Road