Snow? Snow!

If there isn't a Portlandia episode about how Portland deals with snow, there really ought to be. The last few days the buzz about town has been about the possibility of the first snow of the year/season. Forecasts promised, people of all ages dreamed, hope was hoped.

I'd kind of forgotten all about it until I woke up this morning. I hadn't even realized that I had gotten caught up in the dream until that moment I remembered and got out of bed, anticipating the pull back of the curtains to reveal the transformation of my boring old neighborhood into a magnificent white winter wonderland!

Nope. Same old boring neighborhood was there when I let the dog out to attend her morning business meeting.

But! Then! When I let Zelda in? I noticed big giant white flakes of snow falling from a blue-tinted silver sky! It was beautiful and I felt the eager school kid inside of me giddy with the excitement of it all. It was snowing!

By the time I turned ten, I was living in my fifth state of the union. Prior to settling in Oregon the January of my 4th grade year, I had lived in Kansas, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Colorado. The majority of those states are fairly comfortable with snow. In Minnesota, I remember walking to school in such conditions that my wet hair would freeze as I plowed my way through a foot of freshly fallen snow.

Early on in our Oregon experience, I remember the first time it snowed. A few inches settled upon the land, my dad left for work and I walked to wait for the school bus.

And waited.

And waited.

Alone.

After about a half an hour, with nearly no cars driving up the hill (or down), I went back home. My dad must have called (since these were the days before mobile phones and I would have been unable to reach him) and told me that school had been cancelled. My first thought was, "Why?"

It's still snowing somewhat sporadically, giant chunky flakes landing on the ground and vanishing as if they never were.

I don't know what the rest of the day will bring, if any of it will last, if any snowmen and snowwomen will be built, but I'll bet if I turn on the news I'd find newsy people perched on overpasses, reporting on the conditions.

Instead, I think I'll get back to the editing work, which has been a slow and satisfying process.

Zelda playing in our 2011 snow