Liz's Lesson Learned: Weather, you like it? Or not?

By Rev.  Dr. Elizabeth L.E. Wiggins

Snow is a source of joy for most kids.  Folk play in the snow, ride sleds in the snow, and build snowmen.  Kids get frostbite, come in and get warm, and then head right back outside just in time for the next snowball battle.  Grandmothers like mine go out first thing in the morning before any animal or human prints trample across the yard and gather enough snow to make snow ice cream.  But most importantly, school children begin watching the news and asking parents if school will be closed the next day.  I mean, what is the use of a good snowstorm if it doesn’t mean you get a day out of school?

This was my thought when I found myself on a Northern Ohio College campus.  I believe it may have been the rule for freshmen to spend their first winter on campus.  Whatever the rule, I had decided to spend Winter Term on campus during January of 1979.  It was definitely cold. I remember someone saying it was 21 or 22 degrees below zero.  It was the bone-biting, frozen hair-in-the-nose, tearing up eyes type of cold.

Immediately, that Christmas special, The Year Without a Santa Claus, comes to mind.

I’m Mister White Christmas.  I’m Mr. Snow.  I’m Mr. icicle.  I’m Mr. 10 below.  Friends call me snow miser.  Whatever I touch, turns to snow in my clutch. I’m too much…[1]

Well during that blizzard, even the best cold misers were feeling the frost of the cold.  Yes, indeed, it was a blizzard, snow was everywhere and for a while it seemed like it would never stop snowing.  Computers were not widely used yet so the only way for us to know whether classes would be in session was to wonder into the gathering room to look at television weather broadcast or wait for a call or for Resident Managers to come to our rooms and let us know the verdict. 

I looked out the window and saw the snow that was falling out there and based on my Washington, D.C. knowledge of school snow closures, I just knew this would be one of those snow days when classes would be cancelled.  Imagine my surprise when I got the message that classes would be in session.  I hadn’t even begun to prepare for my morning class, because I was so sure of things.

I guess the decision to have classes was made because most of the college population lived on campus, and we did not drive to school.  Most of us either rode a bike or walked around campus.  So, I put on tights, and pants, and a turtleneck and a sweater and a coat.  I luckily was able to find my gloves and a hat, and a scarf.  With only my nose and eyes showing through that getup, I ventured out in the cold, heading across campus to class.

The wind met me head on with a hearty gush as I left the dorm.  I looked around and everything was just white.  The ground was covered by a few inches of snow.  But on either side of me were snow drifts that were a result of the snowplows making way for us to trod. 

The snow drifts were taller than me.  I put my gloved hands in my pockets, but my hands were still cold.   I had to take them out of the pockets for a moment because the hair in my nose was standing on edge and I thought part of my nose just might fall off.  So, I reached up and quickly rearranged my scarf so that my nose was covered as well.  Now only my eyes stung from the bite of the wind.  On I trekked with the wind seeming to push me back each time I took a few steps forward.

Some students were lucky enough to have cross country skis.  So, they skied across campus.  Whether you skied or not, everyone was cold and hastened along the way in efforts to get out of the winter elements and back indoors. 

So, it became the norm for us not to waste energy wishing for snow days.  It did not bring the comfort of knowing you would miss school.  It meant you would bundle up and face the gripping cold and be troopers who went to class anyway.

Ohio storms are brutal.  But we became accustomed to the snow – deep snow, sloppy snow, ice-covered snow, slippery snow.  All that snow and cold.  We adjusted and after a few months we just let life carry on.  Snow and cold became our norm.

So, during Christmas break of my sophomore year, I went home, and a college friend came to DC as well.  We made plans to meet up and go out for a meal and to hang out as college kids do.  Well, it snowed that day. I kept my eye on the weather.  I looked out the window and noted that it was falling, but it did not seem like that much was sticking.  So, I continued to prepare to go out.  I picked out a pair of slacks, a sweater, and some boots.  I had asked my Dad to take me to meet my visiting girlfriend, and I knew I would be able to get a ride back home. 

Well, my parents were watching the weather and the streets also.  They had a different opinion about the weather conditions.  When it was close to time to leave the house, my parents said it wasn’t safe, and I could not go.  I was incredulous.

“Really, Mom and Dad? I have been trucking through snow drifts that were taller than me.  My hairs were frozen in my nose.  Even my eyes were cold.  But I still went out to class.  And now I can’t go out because it is snowing here?”

“It’s not safe, and we’d prefer you stay home; maybe you can meet her tomorrow.”

I looked out the window and I was even more frustrated.  There was maybe half an inch of snow on the ground!!  No, I mean it, half an inch of snow!!  I had endured Ohio’s crazily frigid winter and survived.  I had managed to keep my cool in -subfreezing weather.  And now I could not go out because there was half an inch of snow on the ground!

I called my friend and said “My parents won’t let me go out tonight.  Can we meet tomorrow?”

Laughter seemed to bubble out from her voice.  “Really.  There is practically no snow out there.”  By the way, she was from Michigan.  So, she knew snow too.

“Yes.  Really.”

I gave up even trying to talk to my parents again, because I heard tires of some driver’s tires out there whirring in the snow that dusted the street.  That person was trying to make it up the hill of our street.

The irony was clear to me.  Blizzard, go to class and carry on.  Slight dusting of snow and temperatures not even cold enough to mandate a scarf – and all is called to a halt, plans are cancelled, and we stay home to be safe.  No school.  No work.  No evening activities.  What is up with the world?  Is everything topsy turvy?

I loved the snow.  The white snow seems to bring a calm peaceful quiet to the land.  I still love the snow. 

Weather is unpredictable.  Snow will do what snow will do.  The wind will do what the wind will do.  But the way we respond to weather can be extremely unpredictable.

Weather, you like it?  Or not?

[1] 1974 Rankin/Bass Christmas special The Year Without A Santa Claus