Snow Storm, 1970, by Elaine Creed

From MemoryArchive

Who: Elaine Creed
What: Snow Storm
When: 1970
Where: Wichita, Kansas

It is odd how weather can play such an important part of a person's life. Take snow for instance. Everyone knows how children pray for that extreme snow storm so that school is called off. School officials don't want children trudging through a foot of snow to get to school but would rather the same children got wet close to home playing in it. That is not really the reason they call off school but at times it seems like that is the reason.

I remember one storm in the early 1970s. I was newly divorced with two children ages 6 and 8 and was teaching school at a local jr. high. The weather report had mentioned that we might have snow but no one could have predicted that snow would mean 15 inches. We had gone to bed to a light snow fall but in the morning everything was completely covered. People could not get out of their driveways to get to work. None of the buses were running. Obviously school was called off. The entire town was shut down. That meant that my children and I were home for as long as it would take to get things going again. There was one problem with that. I didn't have much food in the house. Actually not enough to feed us for more than one meal. We did have a lucky break, however. There was a grocery store about 3/4 of a mile from our house and the morning TV had reported that the manager of the store who lived across the street had agreed to open the store for anyone who could get there.

I decided to take a sled that we had and see if I could get some groceries. So, I started out the door but unfortunately, the snow was too deep to pull the sled alone. That meant that I could take the kids or not take the sled. At the last minute, I decided to take my son who was a strong young man who could help me pull the sled and leave my daughter at home. In today's world I would probably be put in jail for child abuse for something like that but things were different then. As for my daughter, she was very responsible and I trusted her at home by herself. I also knew that if anything went wrong she could go to a neighbor. After giving my daughter instructions about what to do and not to do, my son and I set out to walk the 3/4 mile.

It was harder going than I had thought it would be. In 15 inch snow, you have to pick each foot up 15 inches with each step. That gets very hard after a while. We had to stop and rest quite a few times before we got to the store. However, we did make it and the store was open. We had to be very choosy about what to buy since we had to worry about weight going home, but we also had to worry about having enough food for however long it took for the city to clear the roads so that people could drive. I knew that they would clear the major roads first and then the residential streets. A big problem would be drifts from the snow plows which would block the residential streets. It might be a number of days before I could get out again. I tried to buy things which would last for several days including potatoes, eggs, milk, and bread. I also threw in a couple of treats for the kids because they deserved that.

We finally got on our way but it was really hard going home. The sled was much harder to pull with the weight of the groceries on it and we still had to lift our feet 15 inches with each step. After a while, I carried part of the groceries and let my son pull the sled but that was harder for both of us so we went back the original plan and put all the groceries on the sled. By that time we had been gone over an hour and I was getting worried about my daughter by herself and my poor son who I knew must by exhausted pulling more than his fair share. Although I knew that he would never say anything about being tired, about two blocks from home I decided we should abandon the sled and part of the groceries and walk home. I knew that once we got home I could leave my son and go back and get the sled and the rest of the groceries. He had done more than his share for the day.

With the end in sight, we made good time getting home. After resting for about 15 minutes, I went back to get the sled and the groceries. I wasn't worried that they would not be there as there was no one on the streets. Sure enough they were right where we had left them and I made my way home again. After our ordeal, the three of us had a lot fun. We were all legally playing hooky and make the most of it. We played games, made pop corn and laughed a lot. The streets were not cleared for another three days but we didn't notice. We were family and we were fine. We knew we could count on each other.[[Category: