Childhood Books

Today is a snow day. Staying at home, drinking coffee, getting caught up on work, relaxing in my robe, smiling, but also hoping others are warm and comfortable. Days such as this, with a blanket of snow outside, a slight brisk but mystical wind, and a harsh though somehow enchanting chill, remind me of days gone by and the magic of children. My childhood was frothy with joy and bold adventures, many of which were found in the pages of books. And we loved to read.

Easy to remember Pat the Bunny, a book where you could feel the soft bunny, and touch the rough sandpaper of Daddy's scratchy face. Of course we had the standard Where the Wild Things Are and the Ramona books. But perhaps my favorite books were and many times still are the Dr. Seuss books. Go Dog Go, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, Yertle the Turtle, and the little book called Snow.

In this story, it snowed and the children gathered to play. Snowball fights, sledding, snow angels, and the inevitable snowman. The children made an awesome snowman, rolling 3 large balls on top of each other to make a man, and adorning him with a nose, mouth, eyes, and a hat. He was handsome and we were proud of our work--excuse me, I mean they were proud of their work (I often projected myself in those pages to where I was one of the children in the snow!). It was pure joy making that snowman and being in the snow with my friends. But the sun came out.

The sun, that evil object in the sky with its rays guaranteed to warm everything, arrived and began its occupation--melting the snow. It knew no discrimination and without bias it attacked our snow with consistent tyranny, unending destruction of that which we had enjoyed. We watched our creation the snowman being reduced to nothing but a hat, a nose, and a mouth. But wait, could we save any of the snow?

Can we bottle up our fun for another day? Is there a way to save the snow for later? Quick. Grab some. Run, Run, Run. Put the snow in the freezer at home. We worked hard to get a little snow and packed it into the freezer before it was all gone. Soon the snow, including our snowman, was gone. But with a gleam of pride and cleverness, we knew we had done a special thing and saved a little! Snow day was over but the memories would last.

I sometimes feel this way about the past. It was fun and the events were great. But life moves onward and the events of today are great as well. Rather than try to recreate the past, I prefer to move onward to new creations. Yet I do miss that snow and it was fun to put a little in the freezer, but deep down I know that the snow day and that particular snowman was fun and fleeting. I treasure the memory and I grew from the experience, but as Larry McMurtry says, "Yesterday's gone and you can't get it back."

You can, however, make today and tomorrow even better. By the way Mom and Dad, thanks for reading to us! Those books helped shape my life.