It is rare the snowy day that finds adults and children happy to be free of the constraints of everyday chores and responsibilities. Why is it, as adults, that we cannot find the simple joy in playing in the cold, blustery snow? I think we maybe know too well that this is just a temporary reprieve from our daily life and have a difficult time letting go of responsibilities.
Five teen age boys were enjoying a snowball fight while nearby a cluster of younger girls built a fort using plastic forms to create bricks. One teenage girl was alternately participating in the snow ball fight and helping the younger children with the fort. The girls seemed to gravitate towards a task utilizing the snow, the creation of a place. While the boys, standing in a semi-circle, purposefully struck each other with snowballs at close range. Even though they were laughing and were clearly all friends, none of them held back when throwing the balls at each other with force. Snow wounds hung off their clothes where they had been hit and the snow clung to their hats, coats, and arms. The teenage girl seemed to be torn between the two separate groups; should she 'play house' with the other, younger girls, or take the risk of being with boys her own age who were 'fighting' with the snowballs, where she was certain to get struck by some. She chose to stay safely in the middle, making a pile of snow bricks on the ground and half-heartedly throwing some snow balls at the boys. It seems as if she throws them just hard enough to signify the desire to be included, but not so hard that they throw them at her with any force. She just calls back and forth to them.
Eventually it becomes prematurely dark outside and although the snow is still coming down they retreat to the house. Outside the girl's dad is shoveling the sidewalk dutifully and they teens all parade past him on the way into the house to warm up.
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