Sledding down memory lane

Recent photos on Facebook, a popular Internet social network, of several Van Alstyne families sledding on our snow-covered hill, brought back fond memories of when I was little and living in Toledo, Ohio.

My dad, like the three Van Alstyne dads in the picture, took my sister and me, and often as many of our friends who wanted to go, to area hills when the snow was right. We had a long 4-person sled that you could steer. My dad would get us situated on that sled and then give us a rousing push to help us get the most out of our run (because it was a long walk back to the top). There were usually others sledding on the hills so a certain amount of etiquette was needed. Of course, since we were only about 8 or 10, sometimes the other sledders suffered because we weren’t really good about knowing or practicing the necessary etiquette.

I still have a picture in my head of an older teen-age boy who did all he could to get out of our way. We could steer our sled — just weren’t very good at it. The picture I have is that young man resting on his toboggan in front of us and as we went through the place were he had been, he was suddenly in the air above us to avoid us running him over.

My dad took us ice skating during those times, as well, and taught us how to skate. He didn’t ice skate but somehow, he was able to teach us. I always marveled at that. Lake Erie was at the end of our street, so we often walked down the street to go ice skating. Sometimes, the winters were so bad, we could simply put our skates on sitting on the front step of our house and then ice skate down the sidewalks to the lake. It also was pretty common for a neighbor or two to flood their vacant lots so everyone in the neighborhood could go ice skating. It was a Norman-Rockwell-style event, minus the music. 

I remember that we went to school no matter how much snow fell. We didn’t learn about snow days until we moved to Gainesville, Texas. I was 12, and that was a long time ago.

We may all get another shot at playing in the snow this year because snow is predicted for Tuesday. I hope to see all those Van Alstyne youngsters having fun on our hill again. I may join in this time.