Time Travel Tuesday – Is that snow?

Is That Snow?

If you read yesterday’s Blogiversary post, then you know that we got our first snow here in Southwest Virginia!

It was beautiful.

Now I’m ready for it to leave.

When you are born and raised in South Florida, where 70 degrees constitutes wearing a hoodie, it takes a while to get accustomed to the kind of cold that makes your face and fingers numb.

Last year I was smart enough to get a longer down coat.

One that reaches mid-thigh.

After traipsing through the snow last year in wool socks and rain boots, this year the hubby insisted I get proper snow boots.

Hooray!

Love Your Melon.

Sometimes an ad on Facebook or Instagram just so happens to be perfectly timed.  Such was the case with my newest beanie.  New accessories for the winter are always fun.  What struck me about this ad was that Love Your Melon gives 50% of their profit to their non-profit partners who are involved in the battle against pediatric cancer.  The original goal was to put a hat on every child battling cancer in America.  To date, they’ve donated over $2.5 million dollars and donated over 90,000 beanies.

That second number is just staggering to me.

That cancer could be such the rampant beast that it seems to be.

Reading their mission and story, I decided that was a company whose accessories I would be willing to purchase.  Another plus for me was that it is made in the U.S.A.  And while I don’t pretend that the majority of my purchases are, it is something that I can appreciate.

The beanie was much thicker than any I’ve owned, perfect for negative digit windchill.

I know a lot of people want to know if you are compensated in some way when you mention a product on a blog.  As mentioned, it was a well-timed advertisement.  I spent my money, placed it on my head, and am giving my personal opinion with no acknowledgment or compensation from the company.

Since this is a Time Travel Tuesday post…. we should do some time traveling.

This time back to February of 1999.

That would be 21 year old me vacationing in the Blue Ridge area of Georgia.  We took a long weekend near Valentine’s and stayed in a beautiful log cabin (aptly named ShangriLog) situated right along the rushing Toccoa River.

At this point in life, I still had rarely left Florida.

Most out of state trips that I had ever taken were during the summer.

Georgia mountains in February were much colder!

The cabin had a giant wood burning fireplace which we kept going during our time there.  The bed had flannel sheets and a thick down comforter.  I thought these were to lend to the ambiance of a classic Dovetail log cabin home, whose walls had no sheetrock. I have since learned that such things are actually for warmth on frigid nights to avoid placing the heat at “parch your skin” temperatures.

If you’ve read the post about how I lived in a school bus until my brother was born, then you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that I did briefly live outside of Florida as a child. My parents were young adventurers with a baby in tow.  When I was an infant we lived in Alabama for about 3 months, and then again for almost 6 months when I was 2.

It was during that second time that it snowed.

My mom said that I hated it.

I would slide and fall because I wasn’t heavy enough to compact the snow.

That was the last time I saw snow.

And I couldn’t even remember it!

So here I am in Georgia, 18-19 years later, and in my mind, I’ve never seen snow!

I was sitting in the window seat of the bedroom, staring out the window, waiting to head into town.  The sky was gray and blustery.

And then there were these little things falling from the sky.

It looked like ice when it would land on the roof and melt.

I secretly thought it might be snow, but I didn’t want to be disappointed if it were some other form of precipitation.

“Look, it’s raining ice”, I said.

My love looked out the window and told me that it was snow.

I was like a giddy child.

He was amused by my naiveté.

Better to seem foolish than to be disappointed was my opinion.

We ended up having a wonderful winter wonderland excursion.

My Valentine’s gift was located at the end of a series of clues on a scavenger hunt.

Most were rhymes that really made you think, but this handwritten clue is one of my favorites.

The next clue was located on a mirror in that room.

Aww… it still makes my heart melt.

 

I can’t even remember what the gift was at the end of the series of clues.

I’m pretty good at remembering why gifts were given : the anklet for my 21st birthday, the birthstone earrings for our 1 year wedding anniversary, the mother’s pendant with mine and my children’s birthstones for the mother’s day after we finished having children, and pearls for our anniversary the year that I decided I wanted to channel Audrey Hepburn.

But even though I can’t remember the gift, I have vivid memories of that trip etched into my mind.

Walking through the streets of downtown, the snow swirling around us.

Standing by the rushing river posing for pictures while the wind whipped at my face.

Creating poetry out of the word magnets on the fridge.

Solving the clues written on yellow paper. Smiles and laughter.

Eighteen years later, when the snow falls, we’ll still call out to each other “Hey, look, it’s raining ice”.

Let your light shine!

Amy