FIRST SNOW OF THE YEAR

It's not the first snow in North Carolina this year, but it is the first snow for the Broom house. More like a dusting! But we'll take it.

There's something about going to bed one night and then waking the next morning to a newly fallen snow. You walk outside first thing and all is quiet and still. Especially down by the creek where all you can hear is the rippling of the water. I love our little creek. The kids have a blast in the summertime. So peaceful in the winter.


This snow was definitely not like the snow I experienced in 1992 when Greg and I first moved to North Carolina. I had just graduated from college, gotten married, and moved from the state I loved, all in one year! It was quite overwhelming, to say the least. Greg had moved up here before me, came back to Mississippi, we married, and he brought me and my dad's red truck back to NC. (Two for one special - not a bad deal, I must say).

We had been here for maybe a month and the news reported SNOW in the forecast. Having come from Southern Mississippi, I was more than excited to see a little snow, for it is quite rare where I come from. But I have to admit, this was more like an ice blizzard than any snow storm.

We lived at Lake Royale, just 30 miles from Raleigh. Greg's boss was in town and scheduled to fly out the next day, the day it was predicted to snow. Greg was to drive him to the airport, so I tagged along. We decided to take the big red truck, just in case (four-wheel drive), and we headed for the airport (45 miles away). We let bossman off at the airport, they de-iced the plane, and he was off.

We no more than got on the highway headed home and the snow really began to come down. We're traveling down the interstate and - uh-oh - our windshield wipers came to a screeching halt. We could not see in front of us. So Greg pulls over and assesses the situation, but from the grinding sound, it was obvious the windshield wiper motor had just konked out on us. I don't remember us having a cell phone back then. But who were we to call anyway? We didn't know a soul in NC at that point.

So Greg looks around the truck and he's got an idea. Behind the seat he finds some fishing line, ties it to the windshield wipers, fishes it through the little vent window that came in trucks back in the day, and he decides he will work the wipers via the fishing line. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What had I gotten myself into? Could we seriously make it home this way? Better yet, had my father sold us a lemon of a vehicle??? I don't believe I have ever been quite so embarrassed, and nobody was even in the car with us! All I kept thinking about was had Jeff Foxworthy been with us, he would have had the most excellent joke to tell that went something like this: You know you're a redneck when ...

I was so glad Greg's boss was not in the vehicle with us, although it would have been the most opportune time to hit him up for a raise!!

Well, Greg drove for 45 miles pulling on the fishing line, driving the truck, pulling on the fishing line, driving the truck.

My brilliant husband did get us home safely, 10 hours later (but who's counting).

That was 16 years ago, and I will never forget it. So our first purchase as a married couple was a new motor for our windshield wipers! We had just gotten married, I was just starting out in my business, and we didn't have a dime to our names. One thing we did have, though, was a fully furnished condo near the lake with a swimming pool, all free of charge. (Perks of the business!!) God's good at balancing those type of things out! Our cup surely does not runneth over now either, money-wise anyway, but we've sure come a long way, Baby!!!
And, yes, we still have "Big Red" and her windshield wipers are working just perfectly!

But any little snow is exciting for our kids. My little snowbunnies awoke to the newly fallen snow and were terribly excited they could hardly get their snow bibs on.

"No, no, children, you cannot put your snow bibs on over your pajamas."

So they run straight to their rooms to get dressed. This would require a little mommy supervision for my little tikes are known for cross-dressing - that is wearing winter clothes in the summer and summer clothes in the winter!! (I do sometimes wonder if they are really and truly mine)!

Once dressed we head outside. Laci makes her a little snow angel.
The wind is pretty ferocious, so we must take a hot chocolate break. Nothing like a chocolate mustache!


Then we spend the rest of the morning just playing.





Then when all is tired, we head back inside and warm our toes by the fire!

LIFE IS GOOD :)