Childhood revisited.

People pay a lot of money to relive their childhood. We all have a "rosebud" moment, some memory we cherish, or object that represents a memory. It is funny how young it starts too, I know teenagers who are nostalgic about their childhood, which amuses me for two reasons... 1) I definitely starting getting nostalgic around the old age of 16 and yet roll my eyes a bit and 2) I still feel like childhood is in progress. When does this so-called childhood end? Is the seven year old I know who refreshes her county's website every minute to see if school has been called off any different from my 20-something friend checking her blackberry for the official word on the federal government's status? I STILL have my elementary school's main line memorized because I would dial it rapidly (redial wasn't quick enough) to hear the recording. Just last night I was told to "cool it" with my incessant university website checks....and truth be told I wanted to go to clinical so I wouldn't have to make it up, but the drama in the potential closing was too much not to feed into it.

The recent "Snowpocalypse" has me thinking a lot about the irony of childhood memories, and those who seek them... among other things. I can't imagine what is a better way to re-live your childhood than snow. First of all it's FREE. Second, it is straight magic. Sure beats paying big money for that original 1984 Optimus Prime action figure, eh [although, a rosebud sled sure would have come in handy so I didn't have to use a cookie tray...]? When it comes to snow, I think a lot of people would agree with me too, except that it seems like as soon as it comes down everyone wants it to go away... why?

In case you can't tell, I happen to love snow...probably more than the figurative "next guy"... and it seems like most people who don't hate winter love snow too. Snow is one of those polarizing things that has a hyperbolic effect on people -- they either LOVE it or HATE it. This winter season of '09-'10 has been a gift for snow lovers, at least in the Mid-Atlantic region. As a former Delawarean and current resident of the DC metro area, my roots are firmly in the midatlantic region - Delmarva will always feel like home. I spent a remarkable amount of time participating in winter sports... [perhaps why I am partial to the Winter Olympics--3 days!]. I remember the big blizzards of '92 and '96... and looking outside with wonder that has been unparalleled except when I'm traveling. Aside from the memories of sled ramps down front stoops, a golden retreiver making a maze as she trapses nose down in squiggles through the backyard, drifts bigger than me, snowmen and angels, hot chocolate by the fire, what else are the golden childhood memories made of? Snow comes, sometimes out of nowhere, and covers our world. It makes everything it touches more beautiful, edible, and coats the world with a sort of silence and peace that you don't get any other time. The passage of minutes slow, and even in an urban setting, being outside feels just a bit closer to nature. It takes something we see everyday and makes it look unrecognizable. It adds excitement and danger. It enables us to stay home and do the things we never set aside time for. We have no control, and at first we like it that way. It beats us a little bit, until we make it ugly and dirty and get rid of it to let life resume. Amazingly, towards the end, we want life to "resume" (but a fews days back in and we have lost all appreciation for "normal life" again). I can't speak for others, but those 60 minutes late Friday night where I sat in the snow with my roommate made me feel more alive than my normal routine, so I can't believe there are people who don't relish this storm. Although my snowed in experience has been different thanks to school (no five straight season of Lost watching on my Roku, closet organization and alphabetizing the spices/DVD collection for me, unfortunately...except I did bake some somewhat more adventurous things than usual), these snowed in days have been nothing short of wonderful. Yes, EKG analysis and complex cardiac has been the name of my game, but still, I got to take the time to make my note cards pretty, and perhaps a little overacheiver-ish... not something I get accused of much these days.

If I could have one wish with all this snow it would be maybe that it not be clustered into two weeks. If I didn't have an impending sense of doom (pulmonary embolism?) that school is going to be all the more miserable because we're going to have to make this up, I would be relishing it 100% as opposed to my current 95% relishing. We're supposed to get more snow now and again I can't sit still with excitement.

Thanks to Hurricane Schwartz/The Capitol Weather Gang and modern technology, we see this storm coming, but we never know exactly what we're going to get and what it's going to be like until it arrives (sounds like Christmas...). In my lifetime I've been built up and let down so many times by these snow storms, back in December I thought were were going to get an inch followed by the paradoxical heat wave to melt it all and leave it a thing of the past. Even the big storms seem to attract the warmth and before you can blink the snow is gone. Not 2010. This year, things are different, and I couldn't be happier. It might as well be the early '90s again....