Snow (or lack thereof)

It is December, and in these parts that means it is cold.  Bone chilling, teeth rattling, mind numbing cold.  The kind that takes your breath away cold.  I grew up in Northeast Ohio, land of that mythical lake effect snow.  When we were lucky enough for the wind to blow straight south off of Lake Erie towards Akron, it would pile up fluffy mounds of sparkly, beautiful snow.  I'm not talking a dusting here either.  I'm talking 6-12 inches of that white stuff.  We couldn't wait to get home from school.  There was a great sledding hill on the street over from ours where we could spend hours before our parents needed us home.  The best was being outside at night in all that snow...the full moon, the bright snow.  You felt the world was yours to take. 

Then I moved to Northwest Ohio.  Don't misunderstand me, I have grown to love my new home.  I love the beautiful sunrises over the flat plains.  I love the farms that dot the countryside.  I love the wave of corn and soybeans that bend in a summer breeze.  What makes me nuts is watching the radar in the winter and seeing snow to the right and left of us, and none over top of us.  Sure, we will get a few good snowfalls, but before you can blink they'll blow somewhere off to the east and we will be left with barren brown farmland again.  I miss the soft white hills of my childhood.  Here you gird your loins before walking to your car because the winds threaten to take your breath away and drive into you with one thousand frozen icicles.  It is brutal. 

I know, woe is me, right?  I won't get much sympathy because not many people (my spouse included) love/like or even tolerate snow.  But I embrace and adore the seasonal changes.  It is what makes our part of the planet unique and beautiful.  Give me winter's chill and snow so I can appreciate summer's warmth and green even more.  Just please, old man winter, give me a little more snow.