Wintry Mix
Thunder-sleet. That's what we have going on outside tonight. I have never experienced this weather before. I have been in tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, hail storms and blizzards..but thunder-sleet? It sounds like a bad band name. I'll let you know how it goes. Two days ago I was in shorts hanging out in our backyard. Today I was bundled up like the kid on A Christmas Story. Psycho-weather. Kids have a two hour delay already too. Get out the sleet shovels. We will be the first to make a sleet man on our block. I have a tiny scarf and a mini carrot for his nose. We could use raisins for his eyes. Maybe I can find a tiny hat too. Wait..does sleet even stick? Man..I've been out of the Midwest for too long.
I remember some big snow days in Wisconsin, when I was a kid. The snow on the side of the sidewalks seemed like they were 6 feet high. (my relatives are rolling their eyes right now..because they are still looking at 6 ft. high snow piles..and not so fondly) We did not have a snow blower either. That means that my dad did all of the shoveling. I remember him coming in from the snow with his glasses all fogged up. He had the same snow boots for years. Same beanie too. Sometimes he would wear one of those hats that covered his ears. It had some kind of fur on it. Today hipsters would wear it as a fashion statement. Like Pharrell Williams wears that Arby's hat. Why does he wear that hat? I hope it does not cross over into our pop culture clothing. Meaning: I do not want my son to wear a Yogi the Bear hat and think it's cool. It was a stretch for me to buy $15.00 neon calf-high socks. Is neon out of fashion yet? Maybe I will go to the mom store that I frequent for my clothing and see. If neon is all over the store, then it's sure to be out of style. I'm just about 2 years behind the trends.
So my dad (who by the way, wasn't a fashion icon either ), did something so totally cool in the middle of the winter. He would water the back yard. Yes! He would go outside in morning and water the middle of our big yard..to make an ice skating rink. I remember looking outside our dining room window..anticipating the perfect ice to skate on. Man. He must have been so, so cold. He was doing this for us. His kids. To make us happy on a freezing winter day. Creating an ice rink in our back yard. I remember a lot of slushy parts..and a few great parts to skate on. It was not like Grant Park, where the pond was the perfect place to skate, as a kid. Watch out for the weak parts of the ice though..I can still hear the crackle sound of the weak parts. There was no fear of falling in the frozen pond in our back yard though. One could fall in the muddy slush..that was the biggest danger zone at our house. Funny thing was that the park wasn't that far from our home. We could have easily bundled up and gone skating there..but there was something special about having our very own rink. Rink is a funny word. I think of ring when I say rink. I'm going to look that up.
Oh man. This is awesome! I looked it up and apparently my worlds are cosmically connected. Rink is a Scottish word that means 'course' and was originally used as the name of a place where CURLING was played. (my last blog spoke of curling fondly)
Back to my dad. I think of my dad about 2436 times a day. He was a great dude, for sure. Tough too. What I thought about recently was that he was kind of an extraordinary ordinary guy. I guess that could seem oxymoronic, but to me it makes sense. He did not do anything in his life that made the papers, earned him a fancy medal, did not do a TED talk and didn't make a million dollars. (unless there is a buried treasure under the yard on Kirkwood avenue, where the ice skating rink was) What he did do was write me notes before he left for work in the morning. He would decorate our brown paper lunch sacks with cool lettering. He would play softball with me. He would ask about my day and genuinely listen. When I dated a questionable guy in my late teens, he wrote me a note saying, "This is your life. You are an incredible young lady..please do not hide your light." He would go to the daughter/dad dances at school with me. He would cry when I sang, "Danny Boy". He would give me that look when I said, "Jeeze"..because it was too close to using the Lord's name in vain. When I was in college, working and also living at home..sometimes I would stay out too late on Saturday nights. He would knock on my door Sunday morning and say, "God gave you a whole life, can't you give Him and hour?" He could grill a really good steak. His closet was beautifully organized with his very un-hip clothing. My mom bought him a gauzy-Mexican wedding shirt one time..that stayed pressed and ready to wear for special summertime occasions. I think he wore it once. Just too trendy, I guess.
He was a good dad. I wonder what he would do on a thunder sleet day like today? Probably something ordinarily beautiful like turn on a jazz station, pull a chair up to the window and thank God he didn't live in Wisconsin in the winter. Here's to the extraordinary ordinary folks that you know. Quietly changing the world..one lunch sack at a time.
Monday night. March 3rd. 33 degrees and dropping.
I remember some big snow days in Wisconsin, when I was a kid. The snow on the side of the sidewalks seemed like they were 6 feet high. (my relatives are rolling their eyes right now..because they are still looking at 6 ft. high snow piles..and not so fondly) We did not have a snow blower either. That means that my dad did all of the shoveling. I remember him coming in from the snow with his glasses all fogged up. He had the same snow boots for years. Same beanie too. Sometimes he would wear one of those hats that covered his ears. It had some kind of fur on it. Today hipsters would wear it as a fashion statement. Like Pharrell Williams wears that Arby's hat. Why does he wear that hat? I hope it does not cross over into our pop culture clothing. Meaning: I do not want my son to wear a Yogi the Bear hat and think it's cool. It was a stretch for me to buy $15.00 neon calf-high socks. Is neon out of fashion yet? Maybe I will go to the mom store that I frequent for my clothing and see. If neon is all over the store, then it's sure to be out of style. I'm just about 2 years behind the trends.
So my dad (who by the way, wasn't a fashion icon either ), did something so totally cool in the middle of the winter. He would water the back yard. Yes! He would go outside in morning and water the middle of our big yard..to make an ice skating rink. I remember looking outside our dining room window..anticipating the perfect ice to skate on. Man. He must have been so, so cold. He was doing this for us. His kids. To make us happy on a freezing winter day. Creating an ice rink in our back yard. I remember a lot of slushy parts..and a few great parts to skate on. It was not like Grant Park, where the pond was the perfect place to skate, as a kid. Watch out for the weak parts of the ice though..I can still hear the crackle sound of the weak parts. There was no fear of falling in the frozen pond in our back yard though. One could fall in the muddy slush..that was the biggest danger zone at our house. Funny thing was that the park wasn't that far from our home. We could have easily bundled up and gone skating there..but there was something special about having our very own rink. Rink is a funny word. I think of ring when I say rink. I'm going to look that up.
Oh man. This is awesome! I looked it up and apparently my worlds are cosmically connected. Rink is a Scottish word that means 'course' and was originally used as the name of a place where CURLING was played. (my last blog spoke of curling fondly)
Back to my dad. I think of my dad about 2436 times a day. He was a great dude, for sure. Tough too. What I thought about recently was that he was kind of an extraordinary ordinary guy. I guess that could seem oxymoronic, but to me it makes sense. He did not do anything in his life that made the papers, earned him a fancy medal, did not do a TED talk and didn't make a million dollars. (unless there is a buried treasure under the yard on Kirkwood avenue, where the ice skating rink was) What he did do was write me notes before he left for work in the morning. He would decorate our brown paper lunch sacks with cool lettering. He would play softball with me. He would ask about my day and genuinely listen. When I dated a questionable guy in my late teens, he wrote me a note saying, "This is your life. You are an incredible young lady..please do not hide your light." He would go to the daughter/dad dances at school with me. He would cry when I sang, "Danny Boy". He would give me that look when I said, "Jeeze"..because it was too close to using the Lord's name in vain. When I was in college, working and also living at home..sometimes I would stay out too late on Saturday nights. He would knock on my door Sunday morning and say, "God gave you a whole life, can't you give Him and hour?" He could grill a really good steak. His closet was beautifully organized with his very un-hip clothing. My mom bought him a gauzy-Mexican wedding shirt one time..that stayed pressed and ready to wear for special summertime occasions. I think he wore it once. Just too trendy, I guess.
He was a good dad. I wonder what he would do on a thunder sleet day like today? Probably something ordinarily beautiful like turn on a jazz station, pull a chair up to the window and thank God he didn't live in Wisconsin in the winter. Here's to the extraordinary ordinary folks that you know. Quietly changing the world..one lunch sack at a time.
Monday night. March 3rd. 33 degrees and dropping.
You so make me smile!
ReplyDeletei have been thinking of you. i discovered anne lamott. just finished STITCHES- A HANDBOOK ON MEANING, HOPE AND REPAIR. her writing reminds me of you. check her out if you haven't yet. delightful and thought provoking- like you. thank you for being you. love.
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