The Great Blizzard

Here in the DC-Metro area, it's the first snow of the winter. Initial forecasts of one inch have ballooned up to at least 3 inches, and from the looks of things it might be even more than that. I am, of course, stuck here at work, but my large office window affords me nice views of the white barrage.

I always like looking out at a snowstorm in progress, especially as it always reminds me of my first winter in Fredericksburg, VA. In early January 1996, the area experienced what has come to be known as "The Great Blizzard of '96." Since that snow melted, the event has taken on steadily growing mythical proportions. It even has its own Wikipedia page!

It always amuses me when this topic comes up around a mixed crowd of people who experienced it and newer arrivals to the area. The conversation usually goes something like this:

Guy 1: "I hear we're supposed to get like 5 inches of snow - that'd be a lot."
Guy 2: "Yeah, but nothing like '96."
Guy 1: "OH MAN - THAT WAS AMAZING, WE WERE OUT OF SCHOOL FOR TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT!!"
Guy 2: "I know, we had some wicked hills to sled down. I built a fort. Sweet."
Girl 1 [who wasn't there in '96]: (rolls her eyes and shakes her head, as this is the 5,624th time she's heard this exact conversation)

And heaven help that new arrival if he/she tries to compare that storm with any other snowstorm in the history of mankind. There's no comparison. The Great Blizzard of '96 beats all others. Seriously, two weeks straight off school. Forget about it.

Anyway, my memories of that time leave me pining as well. Despite having an ill-timed tooth-ache that made breathing in the cold air a painful endeavor, I was out in that snow every single day, either with my sled or snowboard. At the time, I was a sophomore in high school, and had been suddenly given the dual gifts of extended time off of school and several feet of winter wonderland snow.

"You know, they're probably just going to add this time on to the end of the school year," my mother pooh-poohingly noted. But, no matter, we lived for the moment, and the moment was pretty grand.

Our Shelty puppy, 3 months old and a snow virgin, lost his mind in the snow. One of the funniest memories I have of the Great Blizzard is our dog running down our porch steps, amazed we were letting him out leash-free, only to quickly find two feet of snow above his head. Confused as hell, he had to frog-leap his way around the yard, until finally he had enough and frog-leapt his way back to the porch. "Fuck that," he said, shook himself off, and went back inside, much to the consternation of my mother, who had just cleaned that floor, dammit.

Our house was situated on a cul-de-sac at the bottom of a large hill, which, unencumbered by car traffic due to the roads not being cleared yet, became a great, if slightly precarious, sledding/snowboarding hill for us. We would spend hours sliding down the hill, then slowly trudging up the hill, then sliding back down the hill. It was simple, cheap fun.

At least once a day, we would see a figure waddling towards us, a greasy looking guy in a ski cap made to resemble dred-locks. This was my next-door neighbor's 24 year old (at least physically) son Dave. He was, without a doubt, the single weirdest person I've ever met.

"Dudes!" he would exclaim as he approached, and we all prepared ourselves for the impending idiotic and annoying conversation.

"Dudes! I just found out how to make homemade L.S.D."

"Oh yeah, how about that...," we would dismissively answer.

"Yeah, it's real easy! Get a bottle, and put a banana peel and some aspirin inside. Then, just let it sit for a few days, and, DUDE, you got some strong L.S.D.!"

"That's great, Dave, you should go try that out."

"(laughing like Spicoli from "Fast Times") Dude, that's what I'm on my way to do!"

Then, he would give us a surfer's wave, and snowboard down the hill, wiping out at least five times on the way down. And we would move on to another hill, in case he decided to come back, all high on bananas and aspirin.

Yes, there will never be another time like The Great Blizzard of '96, but, who knows, it's still snowing pretty hard out there.