#8 Minnesnowta

Minnesota has the nickname Minnesnowta for a reason, although it’s certainly not the snowiest state in the United States. Every winter (except last winter…) we get plenty of snowfall and it typically stays on the ground all season. We don’t just have white Christmases, we have white winters. I have always loved snow and always been happy to live in a state that gets plenty of it, but I don’t know that it ever occurred to me growing up that some states have brown winters.

There are green winters and white winters, and as a kid I assumed that’s all there was. I didn’t give it a lot of thought until I started talking with B before we became a couple. B grew up in Kentucky. Snow days happened (laughingly) with even a few inches of snow in Lexington, but that doesn’t mean they had many. Snow has always excited B, and he gets very excited every time it snows.

B’s reaction to snow made me truly appreciate the wonderful amount of snow I had growing up. I made more snowmen than I can count. Sledding was one of my favorite winter time activities, and it was almost always available thanks to the hill across the street from my house. The city I grew up in has more outdoor ice rinks than most people could imagine in such a small area – all free to the public with warming houses open daily.

B, and much of the rest of the country, did not experience that. Minnesota winters are magnificent. I am so incredibly lucky to have grown up with the chance to play in the amount of snow we get here. I can’t count the number of nights I spent playing on snowbanks, working on snow forts, and playing outside with friends.

Many people have experienced the delight of waking up to a white blanket covering the outside world, but I wonder how many of those people have seen that same blanket at night. In the moonlight, under the streetlights snow is like a blanket of diamonds. Nothing makes the world sparkle quite like snow at night.

B loves Calvin and Hobbes. When B talks about snow, I imagine Calvin’s reaction of pure childlike glee. B makes me appreciate so much more the winters I had growing up.