http://mentalfloss.com/article/58771/27-offbeat-college-essay-topics
Essay #8 of 27
In recognition of the winter storm that is just getting started outside tonight, here are my top ten most memorable winter weather experiences.
1. Ice Storm of 2009
Two days of freezing rain. No power. Tree branches falling all around the house. Trying to ride out the storm by cooking in and sleeping by our fireplace. Leaving home after the water ran out, leaving our pets in a freezing house and taking 45 minutes to traverse 10 miles of city roads to get to Amy's mom's house. Spending two days at my mother-in-law's house, who still had electricity. Two weeks off of work and an entire semester of school disrupted. Hands down, the most epic winter storm I've even been involved in.
2. Winter of 1979
Eighteen inches of snow with drifts up to three feet. I built snow tunnels in my front yard and fell into drifts along the drainage ditch in Bacon Park that were over my head. Still the most snowfall at one time that I've experienced.
3. March 1988
I had tickets to see Def Leppard live for the first time in St. Louis while I was a sophomore at Mizzou. One problem: eight inches of snow on I-70. Actually, no problem. I just drove 25 mph until I got ahead of the weather. Great concert, but now, another problem. The storm moved through St. Louis, and now I can't find my car. Or the road. We rolled safely back into Columbia around 3:30 a.m. Totally worth it.
4. Christmas, some time in the late 1970s
I don't remember what year this was, but I think I was around 7 or 8 years old, which would have been 1975-76. We were driving to St. Louis to spend Christmas with my mom's parents, and the snow started falling around Greenville. By the time we got near I-55, the roads were covered, we couldn't see more than 50 feet ahead of the car, and when Mom told me and my sister to be quiet and let my dad drive, we actually believed her. It was a scary trip, but we made it safely, and it was a fun White Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's.
5. Winter of 1984
We missed about a month of school due to snow, which led to the infamous "Saturday School" experiment at PBHS. Attendance was less than 20 percent, and they gave up after two weeks. Summer vacation didn't start until June that year. In the meantime, my best friend and I spent most of January sledding down Big Davis hill.
6. Thanksgiving, somewhere around 1978-1980
Another trip to St. Louis, and another year I can't remember for sure, but I do remember that we arrived on the day before Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle's house in heavy snowfall, and by the next day, more than 10 inches of snow were on the ground. This was one of the earliest heavy snows and definitely a fun Thanksgiving playing in the snow with my cousins.
7. Christmas 1993 in Iowa
I had been dating a young woman for about a year at this time, and we spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at her parents' house in northern Iowa. That Christmas Eve was the coldest night I've ever experienced—the temperature was 20 below zero with wind chills exceeding 40 below. I bundled up in four layers and went outside around midnight. I felt a lot like an astronaut.
8. March 2014
Last year, we experienced an unusual amount of snow for southeast Missouri, but the biggest storm started with about 4-6 inches of sleet with another foot of snow on top of that. We spent the entire week out of school, and we constructed an epic snow slide on the east side of our house. In excess of 200 feet, it went from our front yard and ended deep in the woods on the south side of our house. We sledded day and night, and even had a bonfire in the snow. (This is the video in my Facebook post announcing this blog!)
9. Winter 1979-1983
This isn't one particular memory but a collection of days and nights spent on "Big Davis," the steep hill on Davis St. next to what is now Hendrickson Park in Poplar Bluff. When I was a kid, the city street department closed that road when it snowed and allowed kids to sled down it. I lived about a mile away from Big Davis, and I spent entire days and a good part of some nights sledding down and hiking back up. Best memory: my dad and I rode down the hill tandem on one sled—when we reached the bottom of the hill, an Irish Setter was crossing right in our path. My dad expertly steered us between the dog's legs, and we slid right under it's belly. The dog was startled, but no one was hurt!
10. Ice Storm 1993
Same girlfriend in Iowa as #7, and I was on my way to visit her for the weekend. I lived in St. Louis at that time, and she was still in school at University of Iowa. By the time I crossed the Missouri-Iowa border, the sleet was coming down so hard I could only see 30-40 feet ahead of me, and my windshield only had a porthole-sized opening to see through. It took me more than two hours to travel a stretch of highway that usually only took 30 minutes.
In the midst of writing this, I had to go pick up my son from his job at Steak 'n Shake; we didn't let him take his own car because of the winter weather forecast. The roads were already ice-covered, and the sleet and freezing rain poured down on my car, freezing my windshield up almost at once. The college is already closed for tomorrow, and if the snow falls as forecast (up to 12 inches predicted), this week may end up cracking my top ten as well.
