021924b

When I was a child in Charlottesville, my parents planned a New Year's Eve party that had to be canceled because of heavy snow that day. Sad, but no problem, they thought. We'll just do it next year. Damned if there wasn't a heavy snow the next year on December 31st. They weren't going to cancel two years in a row (and was that my dad's idea?), so we walked the three quarters of a mile out to the old highway (29 South, if you want to know), which was clear enough of snow so that people could drive that far and park. I remember trudging back home on icy feet through what really wasn't very much snow at all, and wouldn't have interfered with partying in the Frozen North (e.g., Michigan). We had about four people actually show up, and we had a good time. The way I remember it, we kids were allowed to stay up to ring in the New Year, even though I must have been 7 or 8 years old at the time. Good times, except for the cold feet.