by Tod Christensen
I stared out the window where all was drab and gray,
the snowdrifts were as tall as mounds of summer hay
The radio crackled with all the closures and told us not to go outside
I was a junior in high school and chock full of school pride
Winter storms were nothing new, but few were this severe
and it took something special to cancel school and make the kids cheer
But after awhile reality set in, and my options were few
This was before video games and laptops gave you something to do
So I listened to the hit songs as I watched the snow still slowly fall
I thought about my life so far, the ups the downs and thought about it all
For brief moments like this when I actually let myself slow
I really could see myself years and decades later and some of the places I would go
I loved this small town and all the people it held,
but it never limited me from all the wonders the world beheld
And it always encouraged me to go further than I sometimes dared
the people seemed common and ordinary then, but today they seem so very rare
So I drift back in my mind to the cold window and warm couch,
and I stare out the window again with my teenage self
And I remember the smell of hot chocolate coming from the kitchen,
and I am struck by how badly I would like to go back to those storms again
