I Love the Snow
By Betty Everett
I love the snow, but not the black ice. Growing up in the country, we used to make snowmen and my favorite thing was eating real ice cream made from snow. I used to look outside and see the snow coming down in big flakes. The icicles that formed on the trees were nice, too.
I have always had a job and was only homeless years ago for about one day, when I got lucky and found an apartment that I have had since 2002. From this day on, I hope to find gainful employment where I do not have to rely on a roommate to keep up with my expenses. I miss the freedom of having my own apartment where my two cats feel comfortable. Before I had to get a roommate to help with expenses, my cats were used to running freely in every room in the apartment.
My time in Washington, D.C., has been OK. I moved here in 1998 because my mother was ill and had to be put in a nursing home.
A Day in the Cold
By Patty Smith
We lived on the top of Wilson Avenue on the North side of Pittsburgh. I was 16, and Shirly was 14. She was the child of my mom’s friend. We were best friends. One Christmas it snowed. So to waste the day we took some cardboards and sat on them and then sleighed down the hill. We had fun. I still remember that day in the cold. Cindy, my momma’s baby sister, took pictures of us. In Pennsylvania, you learn to live in the cold.
The Winter Kill
By Jacqueline Turner
The first day of spring is March 21. Yet the winter seems to have just begun. The last two weeks have been the coldest on record since the early 1990s. Temperatures are in the teens and the wind at 60 miles an hour is knocking over trees. Boston got 100 inches of snow in eight days–so bad that their transit system will suffer for months. February 20’s 5 degree temperature broke D.C.’s 120-year-old record low”
The homeless have been sought after for their own safety. There are hypothermia stations in churches and community centers. Still, my heart goes out to the forgotten ones.
When the temperature was 17 degrees with 40 mile-per-hour winds, I went to the gas station at 1:00 a.m. and there on the side of the walk-up window was a child. It shocked me. I asked him how old he was and he said eight-years-old. I said, “Baby what are you doing out here this time of morning?”
He said, “I am hungry.”
I said, “Where do you live?” He pointed across the street. I said, “Do your parents know you’re out here?” He said, “My grandma’s asleep.” I gave him money for food and I asked him to please get out of the cold and go home.
Make no mistake: this cold weather can kill you and just think if you are a hungry child, not to mention the criminals and crazy folks out looking for someone to prey on.
Sometimes hard times bring out the worst in people. When a family is shut in the house for a week or more you may have love, but you can get on one another’s nerves.
There are only twenty-five days before spring. We can only hope that the cold passes and that there is no more record-breaking weather in store.
Spring might come early and it might skip to summer.
Be on the lookout for people who need help. We are God’s helpers.
