Friends.
You have not truly lived until you have sledded, tubed, or in some other way propelled yourself down the slope at Piedmont Park on a snow day.
After eggs, coffee, and political television, John and I spent yesterday morning outside, working hard on a snow Kimber (which turned out looking sort of mediocre; not photo-worthy), and were then joined by our sweet neighbors, Gerhard and Sonja, and their kids, Teresa and Benedict, as we proceeded to make a snow Ariel, snow penguin, and John-sized snow angel. Gerhard and Sonja were juggling the kids between meetings, so while Benedict napped, 3-year-old Teresa came over for lunch and watched Playhouse Disney and The Incredibles.
Then ... the adventure. The six of us, plus Kimber, walked down the street to the Park (that never gets old) and made our way over to a large hill on the southeast corner. We were pretty astonished to see what seemed like the entire Midtown population on the top of this hill, rowdily cheering each other on as they whooshed down the slope on laundry baskets, yoga mats, stop signs, kayaks, sleds, plastic tables, and anything else they could find that could serve as a snow vehicle. They had created a little peak midway down the hill that made for some decent hang time as they slid over it, up into the air, and landed hard back on the snow below. It was such as sight to see, and so rare an opportunity when everyone is home from work or school, free to enjoy themselves and make friends with strangers for a day. Every face was filled with a pure, excited joy, except or those who had just landed painfully or hit a curb on their way to the bottom.
After watching some successful and not-so-successful runs down the slope, we made our way around the hill to a less-crowded area. We took turns trudging to the top of the hill, finding balance on a little snow tube that we borrowed from other neighbors, and soaring down the hill, trying to steer away from people, trees, and benches. Gerhard was the only one who could successfully steer (after attempting, John and I found the concept preposterous), but I thought sledding backwards and/or spinning was more fun anyway, and after John and Sonja took the kids back home, Gerhard and I stayed a little while longer to build our own peaks, try sledding head-first, and for him to make a few runs on the big slope. It was fantastic.
After walking home through the beautiful snow (as beautiful as it can get in Atlanta), I came home, took a hot shower, and uploaded John's videos of Gerhard and Sonja sledding. We didn't have any hot chocolate, and the Starbucks down the street was closed, so we reverted to the classic making-s'mores-by-roasting-marshmallows-over-a-gas-stove. Which was, of course, phenomenal. The evening concluded with skimming through a variety of shows that we had recorded, and finally, the BCS National Championship.
Talk about a perfect day.
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I just ran across the blog of my friend who went to grad school at Northwestern to study art history who now works at the Chicago Art Institute. I thought you might be interested: http://terahlynle.blogspot.com/
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