Barefoot in the Snow

Every year since we've been up north, at the first snowfall my mother and I would hold an annual foot race. Rules were the ground must be covered in snow (no grass peaking through to reveal itself), your feet must be bare, you must run from the front door to the street as fast as humanly possible without breaking any bones or having to be rushed to the hospital.

This race for me was really the arrival of winter and a sort of remembrance to childhood and a special bond that my family has between us. Even though it's my mom and me who do the running it wouldn't be the same without dad saying that we're crazy and shaking his head at us and telling us we'll wake up with a cold the next morning. It's one of my favorite traditions and I plan on doing it at the first snow of every year as long as I possibly can.

I feel like every second of your youth you spend hoping to be older, classier, more sophisticated and you forget about that time when you just do things because.... because they are fun , because they are ridiculous, really just because you can. Running barefoot every year helps me to remember to do that, to be just because and do things just because.

There's nothing quite as wonderful as running full speed on slippery snow. Even though your toes tingle, you never actually feel cold. You're running on all this pent up child-like adrenaline. You run in the door and suddenly you look up and you are like did I really just do that? Usually my mom would try and knock me down or I'd throw a snowball at her, while my dad laughed and took pictures of us from the warmth of the house. This year despite my mother's surgery and all her pain she still did it.... I guess for me, which is pretty cool. Despite the earlier spinal tap post, my mom is pretty cool and I am lucky to have her (I would like to note that I put this in here because I know she reads it and I would like her to discontinue the use of sad pouty face (I've patented it and I am considering suing her for illegal use.)

So I guess what I will say is thanks Mom and Dad for making this 6 months I've been home with you less like a spinal tap or an anal cavity search and more like a carnival's freak show, a little creepy and definitely weird, but in the end pretty great and all together very memorable.