Editor’s Corner: The magic of snow

Unlike Revis, snow is one of my favorite things in the world. As I was driving around the county Wednesday afternoon, I couldn’t help from thinking about my childhood.

J.B. Priestley wrote, “The first fall of snow is not only an event but it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up to find yourself in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment, where is it to be found?”

I feel this way every time it snows!

Now, I don’t really know if there is something to the theory that we have destroyed the Ozone Layer or not, but I do know it seemed so much colder when I was a child.

As I snapped a photo of one house with a long icicle hanging from its roof, I remembered those huge icicles we had when I was a child. My brothers and I would break them off of the house, barn, trees etc. and use them as swords. When we got tired, we would sit down on a stump at the wood pile and lick that icicle like it was a popsicle.

We would play for hours... throwing snowballs, building forts in order to play cowboy and Indians. We would then jump on our ponys and go racing across the snow-covered fields. It was even better when the fields were flooded and then froze solid. We could slide across those field for hours. I only remember getting one concussion. lol

As I was driving down Semmes in Osceola on Wednesday, I looked at the huge flooded field and noticed it was not frozen. This was another sign in my mind that it does not get really cold anymore. I remember the temperature would stay below zero for days.

A smile comes to face even now, 50 years later, when I think about returning to the house from playing outside for hours. Mom would help me out of my wet clothes, wrap me in a warm blanket and sit me down close to the wood-burning stove. Nothing feels that good. What I wouldn’t give for a big ole’ pot bellied stove today.

I pray I never lose the wonder of a beautiful snow day... never lose the magic or ever stop having fun.

“Baby It’s Cold Outside!” Or, is it?

Sandra Brand is the editor of the NEA Town Courier and The Osceola Times. She may be reached by phone at 870-563-2615 or by email at brand@osceolatimes.com.