Have You Seen My Snowman?

If it weren't for the pollen and thunderstorms that accompany the arrival of spring in the Midwest, it well might overtake fall as my favorite season of the year. Warmish temps, chirping birds, blooming flowers ... I could easily learn to love spring if the pollen didn't make my nose drip and my ears hurt, and if the thunderstorms didn't scare the living crap out of me. As I walked along the trail this evening after dark in a short-sleeved t-shirt with my little wiener dog Ollie strutting and prancing for all he's worth, I was struck by the fact that just a couple of weeks ago, it was cold and snowing. And just as quickly as that thought jumped into my mind, another came racing along at breakneck speed ... "It's crazy how quickly the seasons can change ... one day it's winter, and the next day it's spring." Two weeks ago, the kids in my neighborhood were building snowmen and going sledding ... tonight, they're skateboarding and shooting hoops. It really is crazy how quickly everything can change ... one day it's snowmen, and the next it's skateboards.

One of the birthday gifts I took to my granddaughter Coraline when I went to visit a few weeks ago for her third birthday was a book called Sneezy the Snowman. My daughter-in-law had specifically asked that I get the book for Coraline, saying that Boo had loved the book when her preschool teacher read it aloud to the class. Mainly because I loved the illustration on the cover of the book, I decided to order one for myself so that I could read it to Coraline and Amelie during our Skype reading time. The books arrived a couple of weeks before I was scheduled to head to Canada, and though it was really hard not to do so, I didn't read the book ... I didn't even open it because I wanted to read it for the first time with Coraline snuggled next to me with her head on my shoulder. There's something magical about reading a book for the first time with someone you love ... especially if that someone is an extra special little Canadian with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Sneezy the Snowman is the story of a snowman who gets a bad case of the shivers because it's so cold outside. He tries several different ways to get rid of the shivers and the sneezes that come with those shivers ... he drinks hot chocolate, he jumps in a hot tub, he sits by the fire. Needless to say, none of those are good things for Sneezy, and each one he tries only causes him to melt into a big puddle of water. Thankfully, Sneezy is surrounded by a group of friends ... little kid friends, actually ... and each time Sneezy melts, they are there to roll him up and put him back together. As the story goes along, the kids share their hats and scarves and mittens and coats with Sneezy until they find just the right combination and style for Sneezy ... to help him stay warm enough to make the sneezes go away but not so warm that he would melt. Well ... the kids find the right combination of clothing accompanied by the right number of scoops of ice cream ... they find just the right combination to keep their friend Sneezy with them for as long as possible.

When I Skyped with Coraline and Amelie last weekend, Coraline chose Sneezy the Snowman as the bedtime book we would read together. I smiled as she recapped the story for me before I began to read ... and I blinked back tears when my sweet granddaughter said, "Ghee, do you know Sneezy Da Snowman melts and den he say a his friends, 'Make me bwand new'? He weally weally weally does, Ghee ... he say dat and den his fwiends help him a get bwand new." And she's right ... each time Sneezy the Snowman melts, he calls out to his friends and says, "Make me brand new." The kids do much more than simply roll up a bunch of snow and call it done, though, they give Sneezy the things he needs to stay warm ... they give him the things he needs to be a snowman ... they give him the things he needs to be the best snowman he can ever hope to be. The kids in the story do even more than give Sneezy hats or gloves or scarves or ice cream ... they don't quit or give up or walk away ... they help Sneezy be made brand new.

I've been feeling a lot like Sneezy lately ... like a melted snowman who needs to be made brand new. Have you seen my snowman?