WHERE ARE ALL THE SNOWMEN?

Close to a foot of snow had fallen in our area over a two day period. Once it stopped and we dug ourselves out my son Alex and I decided to go for a walk in the neighborhood. The sun was bright, and there was absolutely no wind, so it was perfect walking weather for me.

We had already gone several blocks when I noticed something strange. I stopped and turned to Alex. “Do you hear that?”

Alex stopped and looked over at me. “What?”

I raised my finger to my ear. “Listen.”

Alex stood still for a moment then looked back at me. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly!” I looked around. “We should be seeing and hearing kids playing in the snow! They should be having snowball fights, building snowmen, making snow forts!” I pointed to dozens of front yards that we were walking past that were blanketed in snow, not a footprint to be found breaking through. “I know kids live in these houses. Why aren’t they outside having fun?”

Alex laughed. “Because they’re inside having fun playing video games.”

I shook my head. “That just makes me so sad.” I slipped my hands in my pockets. “When you were little I couldn’t have kept you inside. You’d have a bunch of friends over and all of you would be out in the snow for hours!”

Alex laughed. “Yeah, I remember.”

I pointed to another house we were passing. “I know there are at least two kids that live there!”

Once again their front yard was a pristine layer of snow.

“Maybe it’s not good packing snow.” Alex leaned down and scooped up a handful, quickly shaping it into a ball. “Nope, perfect packing snow.” He tossed the snowball up in the air and we watched as it landed in the middle of the street with a splat.

“There should be snowmen on the front lawn of at least a dozen of these houses!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe they made them in their backyard.”

I laughed as I looked over at Alex. “Everyone knows the rule that snowmen go in the front yard so everyone driving by can enjoy it.”

Alex just nodded his head trying not to laugh. “Oh, so there’s a rule.”

By now we were back to our house.

“I can’t believe we didn’t see one snowman!” I was hanging my coat in the closet when Alex call to me from the living room.

“You’ll be happy to see this!”

As I walked in he was pointing out our front window. “See?”

I looked out and could see our across the street neighbor with his three little ones building a tiny snowman. It was only about a foot and a half feet high but it made me feel so much better. “Ah, see? That’s what a snowfall is all about!”

“The must know the rule about building it in the front yard, too.” Alex laughed.

We watched as Dad put the finishing touches on the snowman then stepped back to let his little ones enjoy.

“That brings back so many good memories.” I sighed as I then watched one of the little ones go over and knock the snowman over.

Alex started to laugh. “Well, that didn’t last long.”

I had to laugh too. “Well, at least they’re playing in the snow. That’s what counts.”