did i ever tell you [warning: stream of consciousness]

it snowed on my sixth birthday
now
maybe that's not a big deal
if you live somewhere where it snows
but
that was the first time it had snowed in my lifetime
i mean
sure, i'd seen snow on the television

it was january, and
as it happened
i had a cold
i was sick, a lot, as a child
and they didn't really think i should play in the snow
but
i mean
it might now happen again in my childhood
and they figured i wouldn't die
so

i put on like three pairs of socks
my trusty maxi coat
which was still long at that point
we stuck my feet in some empty roman meal bread bags
ya know
to keep my feet from getting wet
and
out i went


i tried to find a video of it
but
the only one i could find that looked right
was from the 1960 snow
which i can't remember anyone mentioning
hurricane carla was the only weather event i remember being talked about

whatever
that's a little off topic

here's the best representation (plus she's got a link to 1895 20" snowfall downtown picture)

that downtown picture
the town was 58 years old


we built a snowman
it was weird looking
i saw a picture
i think it was in a packet that deborah handed me
she came in to my work
when my father was in the hospital
i'm not sure what she was trying to do
she somehow had the idea that i was abandoning him
i didn't think that was what was going on at all
but
she did upset me at work
and
manage to push me away from him
maybe i abandoned him after that

we built a snowman
we had a carrot for the nose
we used light bulbs for the eyes
i'm not sure about the mouth
what was the mouth
we used one of my dad's hats
a black woven number that i think they call a beanie today
but
when he wore it with his peacoat
he looked like a merchant marine


i can remember that house so well
we didn't live there long
it was a house they rented
was directly across the alley from my gran gran
it was a cute little bungalow
i watched love american style there
before deborah enforced the 9pm bedtime
that was where we lived when i stuck the exacto in my hand trying to whittle
the dangers of public television
i had my own bedroom
i had curtains and sheets with big abstract orange and yellow flowers
that frightened me
because they looked like faces in the dark

i remember