Snow!

Posted on OGR 02/14/2010

It may seem strange to those of you who live in northern climes, but I
grew up “snow deprived” in Jacksonville, Florida. On frosty mornings
throughout my school days, I would squint my eyes into the bright
sunlight and image the frost coated St. Augustine grass was a three or
four inch snowfall. During that that magical moment I would be
transported to a snow covered field somewhere in Pennsylvania or New
York. When I came to South Carolina to go to college, I thought, now
finally I will see real snow. Alas, snow here is a rarity, and when it
does come, it brings hardships, impassable streets and power failures
that sometimes lasted for days on end. While I was working in local
radio and television, snow also meant long hours of hard work repairing
damaged equipment and keeping stations staffed and operating. Rarely
did I have a chance to enjoy the snowfall unfettered.

In 2000, I went to work, travelling for a company that has offices and
customers all over the country and I got to see a lot of snow on
business trips. But again, I was working long hours on site or dealing
with interrupted flight schedules jut to get there and back. I also
noticed that northern snows were different; they usually came with
extended cloudy periods. I could hardly wait to get back home to the
crystal clear skies that we have down here in winter. Snow, although
commonplace, was not magical. By the time I left that job for a local
one, I had become jaded to snow.

Early last week the forecasters started talking about possible snow by
the weekend. And sure enough, 4:10 PM last Friday, I looked out the
window and it was snowing! Not sleet, not frozen rain, but honest to
goodness snow was falling. Overnight, we received 8.6 inches of light
fluffy snow, and Saturday dawned clear and bright. The neighborhood was
transformed into a wonderland. The stark landscape of winter was
transformed into a magical place. Before my show on OGR, I enjoyed
tramping around in the snow taking pictures and having that imaginary
experience of my school days for real. By time the show was over, the
streets were clear enough to venture out and see the city. It was like
being a kid again, the snow was beautiful and there were no problems to
worry about. Oh MY!

Copyright 2010 Rick Wrigley