snow day

As most of you from Washington know, yesterday was a snow day. I was pleased that I had wrestled my old snow saucer from the depths of my parent's shed earlier this week. It was time for action. I dressed for snow, convinced Melissa that it would be fun and we set out to a hill in a park that I had scoped out last time it snowed. The last time I had used that saucer I was is the 7th grade and made a complex snow saucer park in my friend's backyard. We had planned to charge admission, but it all fell through when I landed on my tailbone and had to go in for the rest of the day. We walked 15 minutes to Leschi Park and found that yes, sledding is still fun, even when you are old.

More fun than the actually sledding was hanging out with the kids. Mostly, children don't talk to strangers anymore. If you carry a toy, you suddenly become accessible again. 7 year old Alexander, who I thought was a little girl due to long curly hair and an angelic face, made for some great competition racing. He even let me try his saucer, which was of course, way faster. A tiny Asian girl in a pink snowsuit, about three, watched me come down, then said, "my turn!". She rode bravely down the hill, laughing delightfully. Upon completion, she exclaimed, "I did it!!". Her brother was scared and kept dragging his heels to slow himself. I like to think that I just started the little girl on a lifetime of adventure sports.

On the way home two tough looking kids, about 4' tall, stood along the path and told us that no one could pass, unless they paid 50 cents. If you refused to pay you would be pelted with snowballs. Melissa pleaded, I cowered under my saucer, and they attacked. We ran up the path, screaming dramatically to the pleasure of the militant kids. I'm glad that some things haven't changed too much since I was 4' tall.