Winter Wonder
When we moved into town a few years ago, we left all our sleds behind. We were used to snow – a lot of snow – 600 inches of snow in the mountains above us. We were moving to the South, and I didn’t think an occasional dusting of snow could carry a sled or any real excitement.
Then, our first year in town, it snowed ten inches in one storm. My children were thrilled. Snoooooow! No school??!!! No school for only ten inches? They laughed at the absurdity. They screamed in glee. And then, they spent the day outside breaking up the beautiful quiet of the winter-white landscape. My childrens’ excitement, over ten inches of snow, repeated again the next year with six inches of snow, and the following year with one inch of snow.
For all the headaches that snow brings us adults, the outdoor “winter wonder” our children experience is priceless. For our next snow day, I am going to drink a hot coffee, throw on my Utahn snow boots and take a walk through the snowy woods.
Courtney Yarbrough and Mary Elizabeth Maynard
冬季奇境
几年前我们搬进城里时，我们把所有的雪橇都丢下了。我们已经习惯了下雪——很多雪——在我们头顶的山上，有 600 英寸厚的雪。我们正搬到南方，我不认为偶尔的雪尘可以承载雪橇或任何真正的兴奋。 然后，我们在城里的第一年，一场暴风雪下了十英寸。我的孩子们很兴奋。嘘！不上学？？？！！！只有十英寸没有学校？他们嘲笑这种荒谬。他们高兴地尖叫起来。然后，他们在外面度过了一天，打破了冬季白色景观的美丽宁静。孩子们的兴奋，超过十英寸的雪，第二年又出现了六英寸的雪，第二年又是一英寸的雪。 对于大雪给我们带来的所有头痛，我们孩子体验的户外“冬季奇观”是无价的。下一个雪天，我要喝杯热咖啡，穿上我的犹他州雪地靴，在白雪皑皑的树林里散步。
Courtney Yarbrough and Mary Elizabeth Maynard