Showing posts with label friends coming to the house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends coming to the house. Show all posts

Monday, January 9, 2017

Zack's Boot

Even though I was born in the middle of summer, I'm a winter child. For as long as I can remember I've loved the cold snowy days that grace southwest Ohio after Christmas.

Those days of wondering, will a snow day be called? Will we get snowed in, or will a the snow dust across the fields like powdered sugar. 

One snow day lives in my memory like it was yesterday. Our family lived in an old, cold farmhouse with a perfect sledding hill in the pasture. Because we lived on a main highway, my girls' friends made it to our house, even though they couldn't get to school. The kids who lived next door walked over. And they had a blast riding sleds down the hill. 

I was in the kitchen making hot chocolate, because that's what we always did, when one of the sledders (can't remember which one) said Zack's boot got stuck in the snow. 

Zack was the youngest of the bunch and quite distressed, probably because his foot was freezing. Like any caring adult would do, I geared up in my warmest coat and gloves and hiked over the hill to see what was going on. 

And there it was, a hole in the snow that had sucked this poor kids boot right off his foot. By the way, he waited in the house for me so his foot could thaw. After I checked out the situation, I thought "No problem, I'll just reach in and pull it out."

I sat on my knees and reached in the hole, filled with ice and snow and located the boot. I grabbed a hold of the edge and tugged. That hole pulled back. It sucked the boot down further. What was going on?

The more I jerked, the deeper it went, as my hands turned to popsicles. I pulled off my gloves and rubbed my hands  together to regain some warmth. Then plunged in again, barehanded and won the tug of war. Finally, his boot was free.

We carried the victorious prize to the house and dried it out best we could. Zack was one happy little guy. He sipped his hot chocolate with a smile.

I miss those days sometimes. The house full of everybody's kids. And I'm thankful we were the home they felt comfortable in. Some of the kids still keep in touch. They've friended me on Facebook so I get to see their adult lives, their children growing up, their professions and ambitions.


The snow brought fun times and great memories. I still love the snow.