Here I sit in the early hours of this fine day wrapped in the warmth of our home that we are fortunate to have. I look out of the window and see the thermometer hanging on the porch post telling me it is a {{CCOOLLDD}} 7 degrees outside this morning. The area schools are on a 2 hour delay, so my grandchildren will get to squeeze in a little more dream time before getting up and heading out into the cold. While I have been sitting here drinking my coffee and counting the blessings we have received, my mind drifts back from time to time to days long ago when I was a child on a cold winter's day.
When this girl went to school there were dress codes and one of those was that if you were a girl you wore a dress to school. There were variations to that dress code though. Can you imagine going out in these kind of temperatures wearing a dress? Well, the dress was still required, but on really cold or snowy days we were permitted to wear long pants under the dress. I remember wearing corduroy pants sometimes, but the ones I really liked to wear were the jeans that were lined with flannel. Ohhhh, talk about Heaven on a cold morning! By the way, I am talking about public school here, not private school. As a matter of fact dress codes in the public schools I attended were in effect until after I graduated in '67.
We lived in town, so that meant that I walked to school. When we arrived at school back in the day, we weren't allowed to just go in the door and go to our class room. No, we waited outside for the bell to ring and then we were allowed to go to our class room. I recall a very lengthy preparation time just getting the outerwear on and ready to head out the door. Of course I had my long pants on, thick knee socks, shoes and boots (if there was snow on the ground). A sweater was usually part of the winter wardrobe. Let's not forget of course, I needed to have a warm hat, mittens, coat and a scarf wrapped around my neck several times and then once around the lower portion of my face. I am serious when I say that I could totally identify with the little brother in the movie, "A Christmas Story".
Even though times were hard when I was growing up they were also simpler and safer times. If I was given the opportunity to go back and change anything I wanted about those long ago days, I wouldn't change a thing. I hope that on this cold day that you can wrap yourself up in the warmth and happiness of some childhood memories like I just did.
