Bring me some snow.

Yeah, that's right. I said it. Bring me some snow. I figure if it is going to be cold, it should look cold out there. Plus, I like a good snow. It is pretty, I can play in it...and it means there is ice on the rinks. Oh BOY! I can't wait to get out there and skate around. I love playing me some hockey, but can never get myself to pay for ice time to go play around with people. I wish I could, but I just never have. This will be the time of year that I really miss my friend Than because we would go and skate around outside together. I have a some particularly fond memories of skating outside with him. One of them was the first time I went out to skate on the rink in Apple Valley. It was the evening after we had gotten off of work and by the time we made it to the rink, there weren't many people around. We had a whole rink all to ourselves and we began skating around. Snow fell lightly from the sky and the lights shown down on us from the lights around the rink. We skated and skated, (we took lots of breaks too) as the snow continued to fall. It was beautiful. I remember laying down in the middle of the rink, on the ice, watching the snow fall in my face. It was a perfect night filled with laughing and skating and trying to figure out how to skate AND hold a hockey stick AND shoot the puck. When we had arrived at the rink, the ice was perfect, pristine...shining without a mark on it. By the time we left there wasn't a spot on the ice that hadn't been cut by our blades.

The other great memory I have took place in Red Wing, where Than and his wife and two kids (at the time. now he has three! congrats friend) lived. We drove out to kind of the middle of this large open area to the edge of the woods. There was a rink, lit up and surrounded by trees on two sides. It was stunning. I would make the trip there JUST to go skate on the ice again, even if Than doesn't live there anymore (they all moved to Iowa). Than's brother-in-law, Kevin, was there as well and, while later we would be very displeased with him, at the time we were both pretty alright with him. He is a good guy, but has some problems in his life that he needs to deal with. Anyway, the three of skated around in the lights, played HORSE on the ice, and tried to show off. Kevin was very good at skating and shooting in general because, well, he didn't really have a job so he spent a lot of his days just skating around. He needed to grow a beard because I am sure his face got cold with all that outdoor skating. I usually grow a beard every winter and it is GREAT. So helpful. I always tell girls that if they could grow a beard, they would.

It is memories like those and many more that make me even MORE eager for some good old fashioned snow...and ice.