A little day in the snow
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles marking the 50th Anniversary of Hartselle City Schools.
Acouple of months ago, I stumbled across a digital article by Dana Daly entitled16 Ways Snow Days Were Completely Different in the 70s. And then Jan. 10 brought us a beautiful white blanket of snow, and I returned to those snow days of my 70s childhood.
According to the article, in the mind of the 70s kid, “the nightly news weather forecast was gospel.” I do remember sitting before our family television set taking in the forecast wisdom of meteorologist H.D. Bagley and the next morning pacing in front of the television with fingers crossed and hoping against hope that “Morning Folks” host Grady Reeves would tell me I did not have to go to school.
The article claims that, in the 70s, we didn’t have any fancy gear and just wore more layers of what we did have.
That, too, was true in the Slate home.
On each foot I wore two pairs of socks and a sandwich bag under a canvas tennis shoe. I typically wore one or two pairs of pajamas underneath my clothes. Looking back, I don’t know how my mother managed to warmly bundle my snow-charged brothers and me. It must have resembled equipping a litter of puppies.
“Snow angels that never quite looked right” were another marker of the time. I agree. I can recall really thinking through the physics of the perfect snow angel and feeling certain that with a perfect fall and with meticulous foot placement in the get-up, I could leave a perfectly formed snow angel. That never happened. That still hasn’t happened.
The joy of catching snowflakes on your tongue is a timeless one. Though I could not see them, just a couple of weeks ago I could hear the children who live on the other side of my backyard fence at play. I feel certain they were ensnaring some of those halfdollar sized snowflakes on that Snow Day Friday. Their screams and squeals brought back fond memories of my own childhood play with the kids in my neighborhood and then of my own boys who loved a snow day when they were young.
The article asks, “Who needs fancy snacks when you can have snow cream?” My Mama Slate would have agreed. She would gather the layer of surface snow that fell onto Pappy’s car and make snow cream to stash in her freezer for her grandchildren to enjoy when they visited. I can remember that my own mother would prepare hot chocolate with marshmallows for our slushy return indoors from snow play.
The article lists “sledding on whatever we could find” among those snow day moments of the 1970s, but I am certain kids and their parents continue to creatively transform everyday items into sleds for the unbridled joy of zooming down a hill.
In truth, there are actually more similarities than there are differences between the snow days of 1975 and the snow day of January 2025. Similarly, those students who sat at school desks in 1975 were frightened by, saddened by, suspicious of, encouraged by and delighted by the same things as those who sit at desks today.
Life today does not look like life in 1975, but students today in their heart of hearts look very much the same. Hartselle City Schools has worked to give students what they need to thrive since its 1975 beginning. And sometimes, what students need is a little day in the snow.
