As I have mentioned in previous blog entries, I moved frequently as a child. I was born in Fort Carson, Colorado and moved to Mount Carmel, Tennessee almost three years later. This was only a few months after my little brother was born. He is named Hobert after my father, but I will probably refer to him as Jr in future posts. We lived in Mount Carmel until the Christmas break during my first grade year. It was at this time that we picked up and moved to Manhattan, Kansas while my father was stationed in Fort Riley.
The day we arrived in Kansas I remember thinking that Kansas must be in a different world from Tennessee. The mountains and hills were replaced by flatness with the occasional lump, and there was more snow on the ground than I had ever seen before. Snow is not an oddity in Kansas. We got snow often in the winter and there was enough to make snowmen, igloos, and “forts” to hide behind during a snowball fight. I soon learned what kind of snow made good snow balls and what kind of snow just fell apart flakily whenever you tried to turn it into anything. When it snowed, we still had school and recess became giant igloo building 101 where the older kids showed us younger kids how to make an igloo big enough that we could play inside. When one recess period ended and another began the new comers would pick up where the last group of children left off. I can’t remember ever seeing the completed igloo but in theory the process should have resulted in an igloo big enough for a couple of small children to occupy.
What a neat story! I love the fact that recess was one big igloo building class in which the older kids taught the younger kids. How fun that must have been!
ReplyDeleteDid you like Kansas? I've driven through and it really did not strike me as a place I would like to live. Additionally, the fact that it snows really turns me off. I hate snow with the uttermost passion.
ReplyDeleteI liked Kansas, and as a child, snow was like having an unlimited number of white legos to build whatever I wanted. However, I'm sure my parents would have agreed with you about the snow. They were the ones who did the shoveling and the ice scraping. My siblings and I would try to help but really we probably just made a mess haha.
DeleteMy sister went to Kansas State which is in the lovely Manhattan, Kansas, haha. I grew up in Kansas City for a while and driving out to visit her with my family was honestly like driving to the moon, but I guess that is just part of its charm!
ReplyDeleteMy mom actually worked at Kansas State for a while. She helped clean the dorms and when we moved away all the students who lived on the floor that she cleaned signed a large flower pot that she now keeps in the living room with a peace lilly planted in it. :)
Delete