“You’ve Never Seen Snow Before?”

 

In the lovely state of Florida, snow is rarer than a…than a…(than a half-way decent metaphor from me)…

I give up, snow hasn’t shown up in Florida since January 19, 1977. Even with the abnormal winters that have been shifting later and later with each passing year, Florida snow has never fallen in my short lifetime. It is no lie that we Floridians joke often of a perpetual summer, and while I am glad that our winter has passed and shows no signs of returning, I cannot help but wish for snow. In anticipation for CPW, I checked the weather forecast and found out that tomorrow, a 33 degree Fahrenheit snow day will grace Boston, MA.

Or technically, 34 degree Fahrenheit snow day will grace Cambridge, MA.

If there is such a thing as fate, then it is playing a charming joke on me. About eleven years ago, my family went up to Canada to visit family, and somehow, we missed the time when snow was falling. Fast forward to 8th grade on our class Washington D.C. trip, we somehow missed seeing snow by one week. Fast forward to 10th grade on my class Europe trip in March, we also missed seeing snow while still walking through a cold, rainy London. Fast forward (again) to 11th grade, when I went up to New Jersey with our debate team for the Princeton tournament in December, and I missed seeing snow again.

And I guess since CPW starts on Thursday, I won’t be seeing too much snow, if any. By the time the weekend comes, the negligible snow would have melted away.

I presume people who live in snowy areas will tell me snow is overrated. And they are probably right. Snow is likely the worst thing to shovel out of a driveway (sorry, I wouldn’t know what that’s like) and creates a muddy mess after it melts. And even I will admit that when it gets cold, I feel less productive and more likely to huddle under the covers. But I cannot help but want to see snow in the future.

I still remember my elementary school friends talking about flying up to Boston, or Chicago, or some other large northern city.

“Are you traveling this break?”

My answer is usually, “No, just staying home. What about you?”

And if it was winter break, the conversation would turn to snow.

“You’ve never seen snow before?”

Most of my friends would put on incredulous faces and would go about inviting me with them. But we were 2nd graders, and my parents didn’t know their parents. It wouldn’t have worked, but I’m glad we were still innocent enough to earnestly believe in things like that. Fast forward (again) to today and I still have never seen snow except in pictures online.

Snow, I had thought as a kid, was reserved for people who could afford to fly north in winter break.

Snow, I had believed and still believe, was special.

Most people see snow in winter, but for my family, holiday break was never a good time for vacations. December was the time when restaurants were the busiest, the time when tips were highest, and the time when my father came home the latest (around 1AM usually).  It wasn’t just a bad time to take vacations; it was the worst time, money-wise. And I don’t like begging my parents to see something so silly like snow in comparison to family income, despite how badly I wanted to.

But it’s not just me. My parents, my grandparents, and my brother have never seen snow either. When they spent years on paperwork and immigrated from China to America, they began to work long hours in a restaurant and did everything for my brother and I to go to college. Vacationing, and naturally snow, were trivial in comparison.

—

 

 

After I go to college and probably live more comfortably than my parents have ever lived in their entire lifetimes, I want to show them snow, because seeing snow, even if it is a muddy mess, is the act of breathing, living, and feeling a new experience. Seeing snow is like a rite of passage, because it meant that somehow, we managed to do something we never could have done before. It meant that I managed to take care of myself and relieve my family of their worries over my future.

I was once convinced by my parents (Asian parents, gotta love ’em) that college is the key to success, but now that I am older, college has become a door that leads to another door, instead of a master key that opens all doors. In the coming years at college, I would be breathing, living, and feeling a new experience. And everything feels okay and well.

I’d like to believe that the choice to attend college was a decision of my own volition, a path that I forged because I wanted to go instead of being told to go. Going to CPW alone and flying alone for the first time means that my parents have grown to trust me enough to let me go. And thankfully, letting me go, be it to CPW or college, means they just as equally trust that I will return to them, hopefully wiser and kinder than before, having experienced more opportunities than they could ever imagine.

And naturally, such opportunities include seeing snow.

You know how in music, there are B-sides, and sometimes, the B-sides are better than the A-sides? This is one of those times where the B-side (without lines) of an index card is more suitable.