Do you remember?

Well, I remember.  All those old television shows where the parents and grandparents would tell the whining kids how "they had to trudge for miles through the icy, snowy, weather to and from school every day, and both ways were up hill".  Of course this always brought great laughter (whether canned or live) from the studio audience.  The kids would shudder in false horror, roll their eyes and walk away.

Oh, I remember an occasion we had to trudge home from school one very snowy afternoon when an unexpected snow storm closed the school early.  (I say unexpected because we didn't have edjukated metrolgists in those days.)  We were told the busses were coming, and we patiently waited, and waited, and waited, but all we got was colder, and colder, and colder.  So all of us from our neighborhood decided it was time to start walking.  Fortunately, the miles to go were all down hill.  Man, it was cold, blustery and blowing. 

There was absolutely no traffic, so we walked right down the middle of the highway.  All the while in the back of my mind, I'm thinking if that dang school bus goes by loaded with snuggly warm kids, I'm going to kill whoever it was that thought this was a good idea.  We never saw a school bus. 

It took quite a while, but we all made it home.  You talk about a bedraggled, soggy, tired, bunch of kids.  It's funny, now that I think about that event, I don't recall how my mother took our grand adventure.  I don't think she was angry we didn't wait for the bus.  But, I also don't remember being heaped with sympathy, understanding and a cup of something hot.  The greeting probably went something like this.

Get out of those wet clothes and take them to the basement.

Go to the bathroom and towel dry your hair.

And, go sit by the radiator.

Which, I'm sure we dutifully did.

Exactly why my mom did not consider this a big deal?  Let me remind you...she was from the era where you had to walk home, regardless of the weather.  Please...we walked home one afternoon!  That was not a big deal.

Did we ever walk home again in an unexpected snow storm?  I don't recall we ever did.

Did we do it on that first beautiful, warm, sunny, Robin singing day?   Yes, yes we really did.

Now, let me tell you about the time I had to trudge for miles through the icy, snowy, weather home from school, it was all down hill.   A bunch of us......