Do the Snow Dance

When I was growing up in the suburbs of New York City, whenever winter rolled in my two siblings and I longed for snow days. The whole family would sit together to check the weather on the local cable station the night before a storm, and if we did our snow dances just right, lo! and behold!  We’d get the call that school had been cancelled.

We loved to sled, and would generally spend most of the day piling up snow to make luge-style banking turns that wound down the hill stretching up past our backyard. After enough turns icing the track with repeated sled runs, we could really fly! My father was quite generous in his shoveling, walking up and down the driveway to make a large pile of snow that we could dig into to make forts and tunnels. And if we were very lucky, the local pond would freeze over and my mother would take us skating.

Now, over 15 years since the bulk of those childhood memories, I don’t have to wait for snow days. My 12-year-old self wouldn’t believe me if I went back in time to tell him that one day he’d work at a place where there were even bigger sledding hills, larger piles of snow for tunneling, and a pond just down the hill for skating and hockey.  I didn’t even know to wish for it then, but I’m sure glad I’ve found it here at Glen Brook.

And when the weather report even whispers “snow,” I still do the old snow dance.

– Jake Lewis

School Program Director

Camp Glen Brook