When it snows in Georgia, time stops. It’s like the world has just decided to stand still and so has every single person who is native to this state. It’s such a rarity most of us revel in it, even when the snowfall doesn’t top two inches.
We can’t help it. It’s just…what we do. Also we take #Snowfies because even though our faces are literally freezing off we might not see snow again for another year and we need the proof that it actually happened.
The largest snowfall I’ve ever seen here was the now (probably) infamous “Blizzard of ’93.” I was 11. The blizzard was my birthday present. I wasn’t amused because it ruined my slumber party and stranded me at a friend’s house instead of with my mother.
(It really was a blizzard, at least for north Georgia. 13-19 inches of snow, no power for a week, and we heated the front three rooms of our single-wide by turning on the gas oven and opening the door and wrapping up in blankets and layers.)
That blizzard is now one of my fondest childhood memories because I’ve never seen anything like it in the 23 years since.
The biggest snow Joshua’s ever seen isn’t even one he can remember. He was almost 2. It was maybe four inches of snow, but it caused a total mess for our roads so we were out of school for a week. (And that wasn’t even Icepocalypse 2014 that left the city of Atlanta looking like the opening scenes from The Walking Dead Season 1.)
Emma?
She’ll remember this year. She’s old enough. And to her, this will be the biggest and best snow she’s ever seen and it lasted about 12 hours until it was all melted away and gone.
There’s something magical about snow for us Southern kids. And that’s really the best way to describe it.
Magic. Straight up, unadulterated magic.
I despise being cold more than just about anything else in the world except for meanness, but when it snows I’m finding every single layer I can possibly squeeze onto my body and I’m venturing out into the white wonderland to play and stand and marvel for as long as I can.
Snow makes me feel like a kid again.
When it snows in Georgia, kids of all ages are suddenly transported to a land of snowball fights and slippery driveways. A place where people catch snowflakes on their tongues like they might never get to experience that sort of happiness again. Like they can actually taste the happiness.
See? It’s magic.
For just a little bit, maybe only a few hours, our “here” is somewhere else. Somewhere totally different.
It’s beautiful and simple and in those moments, all the little nagging frustrations of life melt away, just like the snow does as soon as the sun shows up.
When it snows in Georgia what really falls from the sky is joy.
May the joy from this moment and the happiness in your heart remain until next time, kids, and may you always remember how glad we all were in that moment.