It Turns Out That Weather Can Trigger My Memories Too

Smells, songs and music, old pictures, and conversations with my family, have all triggered many memories of my childhood for me, and now, just "being in" a fresh and crisp winter's day has proven to generate childhood memories for me too. Yesterday was a beautiful winter's day here in Minnesota. It was all bright and shiny. fresh snow to cover up the "snirt" (snow and dirt) Cold, but not un-tolerable. It made me remember that as kids we were outside A Lot in winter. Then that made me realize yet again how lucky we were as children to have had parents that were always taking us to experience new winter things. I don't remember exact details of these outings, but there were many of them. They took us to see dog sledding on a frozen lake once. Brought us to watch a hot air balloon demonstration, took us to the Winter Carnival parade, also went searching for the Winter Carnival medallion, brought us ice-skating, skiing, sledding. Many trips up North to visit my grandparents home where they had retired. And while there, we hiked in the winter woods, chopped fire wood, skied, both downhill and cross country(not my personal fave, but I was able to try it!) Ice fishing. Jumping off the deck into snow banks. Making forts and snow people. Tramping out onto the lake to spell out our names by walking in the deep, white stuff. Made our own fun. Always had rosy cheeks. I am lucky to have such fond winter time memories. And my parents made this possible. They have taught us all that no matter the season, there is much fun to be had. To many, winter time stinks, but when you have fond memories of the cold times, it can be so much easier to embrace and live with until spring. To summarize, my Mom and Dad taught us to have fun no matter what! Such an important lesson for parents to teach!