My First Snowman or Rather My First Snowwoman

My first snowfall day was when I was a graduate student at Indiana University in 1963. I lived in a Graduate Residence, Johnston Hall, at the time. My friend Linda Lubrano ran into my room telling me to come out RIGHT NOW. I ran behind her to the front of Johnston Hall calling out, “What what?” Snow, she said, snow – and there it was – the slightest of snowfalls, wispy flakes coming down lazily, but enough to make me jump with excitement, and Linda was even more excited that she was there to see someone seeing snow for the first time!

1967: It was a snowman-building day at 892 Grosvenor. Mrs. Steginus and I, helped (or hindered) by Evelyn and Michael, built this magnificent snowwoman. She stood on the lawn for many days but one day someone knocked off her head and Michael was most distraught – he cried that someone had broken off "my Mommy’s head!!" Sure the snowwoman looked a little like Mrs. S. in her apron (Mrs. S. baked the most scrumptious cakes and pastries) but who can read the transferences that go on in a child’s mind?

The next summer, the City repaved Grosvenor Avenue, and Michael spent the whole day everyday at the large window of our living room upstairs where he could get a clear view of the street. It never tired him, watching them dig up the road, throw gravel and roller it down, day after day till the asphalt was laid and dried. He had to be dragged down by his mother, "Michael wo bist du?" Where else but watching the machines and hard-hatted men on the street?