Melting Snowmen

We get a good hearty snow in Jackson Mississippi about once every 30 years. So when we got 4 inches last weekend, most of our kids had never experienced such wonder and delight! We built a snowman in our yard. He was a little lopsided and he had a funny shaped head. I named him King-Lee Grant Jackson, in honor of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, and called him Kingly for short. We had to add snow to Kingly’s bottom several times so he wouldn’t tip himself over. But he had a nice disposition and we enjoyed him for the afternoon.

By the afternoon of the next day, I was brave enough to venture out into the streets. I do not think, on a regular “snow day” up north, there would be quite so many snowmen per street as I saw that day. I saw big ones, tiny ones, and some only partially done. One had an American Flag stuck in his chest. There was a 10 foot snowball that must have been the start of something huge on the campus of Millsap’s College. The Broad Street Bakery sent out tweets that they were having a snowman contest. Nearly every house on every street displayed some remnant of fun in the snow.

Driving around admiring these chaps of snow as they began to melt, I was struck by the simplicity of their joy. We can spend all day cooking a meal that we enjoy for only a few minutes. We may prepare for weeks for a presentation that lasts only an hour. We study all night for an exam. Kingly took us about 10 minutes to create, but he lasted a whole day. That was pretty cool!

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