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Andra Watkins

A Mother of a Snowball

Growing up in South Carolina, I probably saw snow a handful of times in my formative years, always a wet, slushy mess. On my fourteenth birthday, it snowed several inches. I remember getting out and playing in it with my then-boyfriend.
from gocomics.com

Growing up in South Carolina, I probably saw snow a handful of times in my formative years, always a wet, slushy mess. On my fourteenth birthday, it snowed several inches. I remember getting out and playing in it with my then-boyfriend. Because it was little more than barely frozen water, our regular clothes were soaked within minutes, causing us to run back inside to warm up. Investing in snow gear for the once-every-few-years white blanket that was usually gone by morning was preposterous. This IS the South.

It’s hard to imagine it, but think – THINK – about July. You know July. You were just complaining about its blistering heat and oppressive humidity a few short months ago. Especially if you live anywhere near me.

We didn’t have central air conditioning in my house growing up. The whole place was cooled by a window air conditioning unit in my brother’s bedroom. It blasted down the hallway, the air more warm than cold by the time it hit the kitchen at the opposite end of the house. To deal with the heat, I let ice cubes melt in my mouth and did as little as possible, reading being the coolest activity I could find.

One white-hot summer day, my Mom called me to come outside. She was in the storage room, and I could hear her yelling through the thin kitchen wall. Because the washer and dryer were out there, I thought she wanted me to come and help her bring the clothes inside.

After pretending I didn’t hear her for at least five minutes, I finally dragged my lazy behind off the sofa and went out there, my bare feet sizzling like fresh bacon on the overheated concrete carport. Whining and complaining with my most diva-like airs, I came into the storage room…………..and was hit squarely in the face with a frozen snowball.

My Mom scraped up some of the last snow we had and saved it in the outdoor freezer. She probably planned that ambush for months and months, and I’m certain that I was always her intended target. I never knew she had snow in there, even though I visited that freezer quite regularly. It was the same one that housed my poor dead pet cow Boo’s pieces and parts, after all.

So, if it happens to snow where you are today, scoop some up and save it. It will be a welcome treat come July.

 

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59 Comments

  1. Good God, Andra… I just got done reading your last one… don’t you ever sleep???

  2. I think the happiest I ever saw my dad was the day he sold his snow blower before we moved to Dana Point, California.

    1. What’s worse is that she encouraged me to put the snow in there. I became my own victim.

  4. I take it the weather is “warmer” today there? Good. Here you go:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkTHtWX7CCY

    Your mom must have known mine. She used to do this and worse, she’d sometimes go out during the first big snow, make a few snowballs and pop back in to throw them at us while we were camping out in front of the TV trying to stay warm. Gee, thanks, mom. One year, those freezer balls froze solid, so she couldn’t toss them at us. Until she thawed them out and reformed them back into less painful slush, of course, grrrr.

    1. It’s supposed to get down in the teens tonight, so…………

      Many moms are practical jokers, aren’t they? In hindsight, that was fun, but at the time……..

  5. Now that sounds like something my dad would have done, even though we grew up in Pittsburgh with more than our fair share of snow.

    Hugs from Ecuador,
    Kathy

    1. But not in July, surely? From reading about your dad, I can see him doing that, too.

  6. Great idea! I might have to freeze a few snowballs for a great summertime activity when the grandkids come to visit…

  7. “It’s hard to imagine it, but think – THINK – about July. You know July. You were just complaining about its blistering heat and oppressive humidity a few short months ago.”

    Was I? 😉

    http://wp.me/p3jCCy-yj

    1. Okay, so you weren’t complaining, unless you were complaining a little bit about Phoenix. I was out there in July last year, too. It was 110 every day.

  8. “It has snowed in Minnesota during every month with the exception of July, and the state averages 110 days per year with snow cover of an inch (2.5 cm) or greater. ” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Minnesota
    Really, a month without the snow is okay with me. 🙂 Although the snowballs in the freezer here are actually pretty common. We save them for one of the 5 days the temps get into the high 90’s or low 100’s.

    1. Mom used to make snow cream for us with them, too. That felt really good in July and August.

  10. I used to do stuff like that all the time. But then growing up in Michigan we used to have some pretty epic snowball fights. At times in the middle of winter we would freeze snowballs to make iceballs (they hurt more when you got hit with em).

    1. MTM puts harder ice in the middle of a snowball. Ouch, those hurt when they hit.

      1. There were times when we would put rocks in them. But then we also shot each other with BB guns too.

  11. We should be all set for June, July & August then! Yahoo! We are getting sleet today here in Massachusetts, to top off the 10 inches of snow we got a couple of days ago. Time to get the maple syrup out and make snow cones!

    I love this story, Andra. It must have been a welcoming yet shocking surprise to get a snow ball thrown at you. 🙂

    1. It was. Very much. I can still see my mom’s face. She was so happy she got me.

  12. Oh my word! What a great story!!! I’m with Maria. We have had snow in Illinois for several days straight. My car is buried under another layer. It snowed all night and is still snowing! There was a run at the grocery store the other day, in preparation for today.

  13. What a cool mum (now that IS an appropriate word to describe her). My kids saved snow in the freezer last year – we had a tiny sprinkling of what I qualified as dandruff; but in the South of France it’s as rare as hens’ teeth.

    1. I think our climate here is pretty similar to yours. We almost never get snow.

  14. Love you mom’s sense of adventure – and a wee bit of revenge on a typically whiny daughter (I know, I’ve been both the mom and the daughter).

    Well, Andra, we are currently sitting in one of the biggest snow globes around, another foot, take or leave a few inches, have descended since yesterday, with no end in sight, and we are bracing for the big freeze about to descend upon us. Brrrrrr.

    1. MTM talked to his mom a couple of days ago, and we were all glad we got out of there when we did. It was snowing when we left Milwaukee, but nothing like it’s done since we got home.

  15. Since we have about ten tons of snow in our backyard, I’ll just build an igloo. It’s so cold here, it’ll probably last until July. Snow can be annoying and even dangerous, but when I see the white powder creating a sparkling field of jewels, I fall in love with Colorado all over again.

    BTW, your Mom rocks!

    1. I think snow is very pretty to look at, too. I just don’t want to shovel it. Or drive it in. Or…..

  16. i love this and love your mom’s humor and it’s kind of ironic, because i literally just put some snowballs in my freezer, and i’m not kidding )

  17. I don’t remember any snow when I was growing up in Charleston….just ice storms that would take down power lines. And the humidity. It’s humid there, Lord is it humid there. Isn’t Willis Carrier in the south? He should be.
    And I love Calvin and Hobbs <3

    1. I miss C&H so much. I bought the entire collection. I have every single comic he ever did.

  18. What is this “snow” stuff you speak of? I am not familiar with the term.

    1. the only white snowy type of stuff I am familiar with is baby powder or ….. I just do not know…

      1. You … and baby powder. Now there is a thought I just don’t need. 😉

  19. Growing up in Detroit I remember snow on my birthday in May when I was a kid

    1. MTM has seen snow every month of the year. (He had to go to Tasmania to see it in July. Every other month was in WI.)

  20. I HATE SNOW

    I’m a warm weather person. Growing up in Georgia, I’d want to fistfight people when they’d complain about the heat. Uh, what do you want, 2 feet of snow and ice?

    My wife and kids love cooler weather and a moderate amount of snow. We’re scheduled to get something Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m not looking forward to it. I’m trying to talk Bobina into moving to mexico when the kids are out of the house.

    Your dad seems awesome

    1. I’ve tried to talk MTM into Merida. I’ve never been there, but I still think it would be perfect for us.

  21. Ha! Parent: 1, child: null.

    When I talk about uncomfortable heat, it’s usually in the 80’s. Eeew, sweating! 😉 It snowed on Mother’s Day the year I was born. I find that somehow telling.

    1. How would Felix react to something like this? Have you ever done it?

  22. I miss snow … not driving in it, mind you. As a teenager in the northeast, I had too many experiences of trying to navigate on icy roads. But I still fantasize about at least spending one winter back up north. It would be a nice antidote to the sensation of being fried alive that we experience every long summer in the South 😉

    1. It feels like boiling alive here, especially when I get in the car after it’s been in the sun a while.

  23. That sounds so painful to be hit by a frozen snowball. OUCH! We used to do that when we were kids – save them – and being hit by a frozen snowball hurts – badly…so my Mom would throw them out after all the snow had melted. *sigh*

    1. This one sort of shattered when it hit me, but I mostly remember my mom laughing.

  25. I LOVE Calvin and Hobbes!!
    I think its so cool how your mom did that…and she didn’t miss like Calvin did 😉

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