Luke had preschool called off twice last week (they cancel whenever the county schools do). The above photo shows exactly how much snow we got. I subbed in Madison schools for five years and I think that they canceled two times and that was twice as much as they had in the previous five years. This was quite a welcome (albeit, funny change) for us. There are a number of reasons why it makes sense to cancel in the case of small amounts of snow here; lack of infrastructure to deal with it, freezing rain, the fact that the county is large and there are more rural areas with even less ability to deal with weather. That said, it still makes me chuckle as I compare this winter to last. I let the boys play on the deck. They were even allowed to throw snow off into the woods and at each other.
The following series makes me laugh:
One of my life goals is to someday understand what is so thrilling about throwing things off the deck or down the stairs (if any of you former little boys want to clue me in it would be much appreciated).
4 comments:
Carrie: one time my friend and I stopped at one of those scenic turnouts on I-70 where it climbs through the San Rafael Swell in Central Utah. This particular turnoff had a restroom and a few garbage cans. It overlooked a cliff that was probably about 1500 feet high. We were looking over the cliff, casually throwing some rocks out into the void, and suddenly noticed 50 feet below us a 55-galloon garbage can stuck up against a tree. Someone had tried to roll it down the cliff and it got lodged there. So we spent the next 45 minutes heaving large boulders at it, until little by little it gradually became unstuck, then barely teetering against the tree, then one last boulder and down it went the rest of the way, popping and clanging against the cliff, then jumping out, turning itself over in midair, until the glorious moment when it stopped dead against the flat valley bottom in a distant, yet magnificent cloud of dust.
We laughed hysterically, high-fived, jumped up and down, I think we may have even hugged each other. What we experienced was nothing less than sheer, unabated joy.
Gravity: still captivating boys and former boys alike. I can't explain it. Just go with it.
(for the record, that can had a much better chance of being recovered from the valley floor than it did from the cliff--not wanting to seem like a litterer...)
The above comment is such a great case-in-point!
With some boys, throwing things off a precipice never gets old. James and his brothers still love to get together and drive to some remote Grand Canyon drop-off and roll boulders down the hillside. It's the perfect example of how males and females differ, I do believe - it's just something we of the fairer sex may never understand. ;)
Mike and Emily- I am going to spend the rest of my day smiling at the images in my mind of grown men gleefully throwing rocks.
I was also going to say that Adam has told me stories similar to Mike's of pushing massive rocks off cliffs with his friends when he was younger ... and he still enjoys it, often asking me if I'll join him in the endeavor (however, agreeing with Emily, I frequently decline).
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