The first time.

There is a first time for everything.  And our recent blizzard was a first for the kids and I.  Not many blizzards hit Florida in the 31 years I lived there.  As much as I prayed for one as a child, it just never happened.  I remember the pictures my grandmother would send me when they had blizzards in Massachusetts.  Mountains of snow piled high outside the bow window of her living room.  Photos of their dog, Sissy, standing next to the freshly plowed bank of snow bordering their driveway. I spent a lot of time starring at those pictures.  Wishing and dreaming that I was there.  I would pretend that my clothes were damp because I had stood outside in the falling snow with no jacket to protect me.  When reality came rushing back I’d know that may damp clothes were not damp from falling snow but because of the oppressive heat, humidity and buckets of perspiration that were a part of everyday life in South Florida.

While everyone was moaning, groaning and complaining about the forecasted 20+” of snow, we were eagerly awaiting it’s arrival.  Sure.  We’ve seen 20” of snow in the four years we’ve lived here.  A few inches at a time.  20” of snow all at once?  BRING IT!

At first it coated all of our windows like the hurricane shutters we’d place on the windows of our home in Florida.

This was the only window we could see out of.  But only for a short period of time.  That hole closed up quickly.

Several times during the storm Eric, Syd and I would put on our coats/boots and run out into the madness to get a first hand view of the growing snow drifts around our garage.

When morning came it was time to dig out.

and it looked like it was going to take us HOURS!  But then….a knight on a shiny green tractor backed into our drive.

and did this:

Look at how thick that glorious snow is!  I love it!! 

It took him all of 5 minutes to clear our driveway.   And we were not sad about that.  Thank you Tom!

Friends came to play.

Some of us continued to shovel.

A friend and I walked to the local bar for lunch because, well, what else do you do after a blizzard?

At noon Main Street in our town still looked like this:

At the end of the day we took a walk to see what we could see.

We found snow piles as tall as street signs.

A good spot to take a load off.

A perfectly plowed sidewalk.

And Mount Lexington.

And as the sun went down, we vowed to do it all again tomorrow.