The Story of Snowballs in July

Living in New York State, winter is guaranteed to deliver snow. One year in the late winter we had a snow fall that can never be forgotten. It is not because it paralyzed the function of daily life for the masses, but for what it meant for my family.

My sisters and I woke to find fresh and white snow on the ground. We couldn’t wait to go out and play in it. We got our coats, warm leggings, boots, hats and mittens on and headed for the back door. We opened the door and we were greeted by a white surprise. Between the wind and the snow fall, the door was complete blocked. The snow covered the entire doorway and we just couldn’t get out of the house. This had never happened before and you couldn’t believe the surprise and frustration we felt. What could we do? We wanted to play in the beautiful white stuff, but we were stuck. It was at this time that Mom came up with a brilliant and wonderful solution.

Every fall my mother would buy meat for the freezer, enough for the whole winter. This was a cost saving measure for the family, and therefore as the winter went on, the supply of the meat decreased in the freezer. Luckily for us, there was plenty of room in the freezer for mother’s idea. She got a cardboard box and suggested that we make snow balls, place them in the box, and she would put the box in the freezer for storage. So that is what we did. We opened the door and made a box full of snowballs that we would use sometime in the future. As time went by the snowballs were forgotten.

Now winter was over and it is the middle of July. We were hot and complaining that we wanted to go swimming, but the lake was miles away and Mom had work in the house to do. Our boredom was slightly relieved when some friends came to play, but before long we were all bored again, not to mention how hot we were. Mom came to the rescue again!! She reminded us of the snowballs that had been stored in the freezer.

Out came the snowballs and we proceeded to had a snow ball fight. It was refreshing to have a snowball hit you or even has some snow down your back. When I look back, we must have been a sight; having a snowball fight in July. But the most wonderful moment was yet to come.

We were down to just a few snowballs and they were melting fast. One of the friends, a boy, took the few remaining snowballs and climbed the tree that stood close to the road. One of the branches actually hung over the shoulder of the road; therefore it was a great vantage point. As we all hid around the corner of the house and we waited for a victim that is a car coming down the road.

As a car started down the hill towards the house, the boy in the tree got ready. Just as the car was passing his vantage point, he threw the snowball. The snowball landed in the middle of the car’s windshield. Since the snow was melting, it was therefore soft and mashed against the glass. Suddenly he slammed on his brakes and stopped his car. He didn’t see us around the corner of the house and he didn’t see the boy in the tree. He got out of his car, examined the windshield and picked up what was left of the snow. He looked at the windshield, scratched his head, and continues to examine the remainder of the snow. Meanwhile, we were all trying very hard not to make a sound, which was quite difficult. Finally he got into his car and drove away very slowly.

We broke down in laugher and even had to sit down because we were laughing so hard. All we could think about was how this man was going to report snow hitting his car when he got home. Would his family even believe him or would they think that he had been drinking?

The morale is simple: A simple act, in this case the storing of the snowballs, can provide the greatest enjoyment at some later time. If you take what you have, and apply some imagination a wonderful memory that be created. There could be another lesson, from a mother’s standpoint, a way to keep the children from under foot.