At least it makes me think of some place warmer than here.
Ok I know, I know a little morbid. Well at least I think it's funny!
(Click on pictures for a bigger version)When I was a kid we lived next to a church with a big parking lot. The great thing about that was that when we got a decent amount of snow the trucks would come and push the snow all to one side next to a big yard. The best times that I remember are building forts in those huge snow mounds. Not just any forts. Forts with tunnels to hide inside of, forts with places to store snowballs for inevitable attacks on other neighborhood kids. We even made "emergency escape routes" by bringing pitchers of water out to pour down the sides. When it froze again it was a great slide AND great defense against someone trying to climb the sides for an attack of there own. We had to learn to be careful not to spill the water on the "ready made snowballs" because they would turn to ice balls...well a few bloody noses later we decided that wasn't a good idea. We also had to use care to use only fresh snow for snowballs... first because this was out in the country and dogs just roamed around in our little town and second...because the parking lot was gravel...enough said.
When we started out doing this I was one of the youngest kids so I was an easy target. I quickly learned how to defend myself, not that it was a"fair" defense but it kept me from what I was sure would be a quick yet painful death by snow. As the others got older and went off to join High School friends and other ventures I slowly recruited other newer kids in the neighborhood. I trained them well. I remember one time when we had school cancelled because of the weather. We had all the kids out...even the kids from the parsonage and the kids who came into town to get their mail on snowmobiles. It was the best! For the first time I wasn't the youngest in an all out snowball fight. But we "youngins" had trained well. We actually held our own against the bigger kids for the afternoon. Well in hindsight it was probably only 10 or 20 minutes but we felt like kings. We felt invincible!
That, my friends, is one of the best memories I have from my childhood because I don't think I felt that way again for the next 20 years. I thought no one could stop me then. I had the whole world in my little 11 year old hands. Now I have the freedom and peace given to me by God alone to feel that way again.
When we started out doing this I was one of the youngest kids so I was an easy target. I quickly learned how to defend myself, not that it was a"fair" defense but it kept me from what I was sure would be a quick yet painful death by snow. As the others got older and went off to join High School friends and other ventures I slowly recruited other newer kids in the neighborhood. I trained them well. I remember one time when we had school cancelled because of the weather. We had all the kids out...even the kids from the parsonage and the kids who came into town to get their mail on snowmobiles. It was the best! For the first time I wasn't the youngest in an all out snowball fight. But we "youngins" had trained well. We actually held our own against the bigger kids for the afternoon. Well in hindsight it was probably only 10 or 20 minutes but we felt like kings. We felt invincible!
That, my friends, is one of the best memories I have from my childhood because I don't think I felt that way again for the next 20 years. I thought no one could stop me then. I had the whole world in my little 11 year old hands. Now I have the freedom and peace given to me by God alone to feel that way again.
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