By David heiller
The sound woke me out of a restless sleep early Monday morning. A big vehicle moving north on Hillside Road, going nice and slow, with a deep rumble and scrape.

I had to smile. A snowplow.

I followed the sound with my ears, then got up and looked out the bathroom window as it passed by the house. The ground was covered with white.

Snow had been spitting down the night before, but I didnít have much faith in the effort. And in fact it wasnít a big snow, just a couple inches of wet stuff.

But itís a start.

Some readers might think Iím crazy to wish for snow. Itís like wishing for bad luck or illness to some folks. But to me, winter doesnít seem like winter, nor Christmas like Christmas, without snow.

Grandmaís chocolate cookies donít taste quite right. The birds at the feeders donít seem as happy. The woods look bleak and gray.

But add that white to the ground, and the air lightens up. Things look brighter in more ways than one. I get a spring in my step not unlike the one that hits in April when the snow finally leaves. Go figure.

I donít like to over-analyze things, but a couple other things come with snow. One is a connection to the past. Itís partly rose-colored glasses, but those days as a kid sledding and ice skating and ice fishing, those trips to church for the candlelight service, even the Vikings games on TV, they all had snow in them. The first snowfall of the year, especially in December as the Christmas season hits full-force, reconnects me to that.

But mainly snow helps me feel that things are just the way they are supposed to be. We live in Minnesota. Itís supposed to snow in December. Bring it on! Thatís the way God planned it, if you will.

Seeing that new snow is somehow reassuring, at a time when the world needs a little reassuring.

Last but not least, snow gives us something to complain about. Good-natured grumbling goes a long way to making a Minnesotan happy.

So that covers it. Let it snow.

Top of Page

Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475

E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com