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Back when I was younger, in about mid-elementary school before we had the barn put on the newly lain second driveway, my brother and I would love to play in the snow. Sticky snow was the best, being perfect for snowballs and snowforts. Soft, powdery snow wasn't desired but it was better than having a dead, yellow Christmas the way that places down south have. Playing in the snow was one of the best parts of winter, especially on the rare snow day that shut down the school and allowed me to sleep in. We especially loved sledding.

For as long as I could remember, we had three purple sleds that could fit my sister, brother, and I on just one. They had a black string attached for easier position resetting. No matter the type of snow, we would usually sled at least once down one of our two hills. At first, we only would sled down the steeper hill, which ends just past the basement window. Since the elevation would go up once again, the sled would stop and no amount of movement would get it farther unless we got up and pulled it by the string. As I got older, we started to use the gentler slope, though it wasn't as gentle as we thought. The elevation was perfect so that we'd end up in the edge of the woods at the back of the property.

Another thing that I don't remember not having is a swingset. It didn't fit in very well in the country setting, since it was originally intended for our backyard in Hastings. It once had a slide, but I never found out what happened to it. What was left were two high swings and a metal lawn swing. The swingset was quite the obstacle when trying to make it into the woods on a sled.

I was always angled wrong towards the swingset when I first started sledding on the gentle hill, so my brother would come to the rescue and stop the sled before I could get injured by hitting the lawn swing part of it. My brother wasn't the most attentive, however.

Trusting that my brother would catch the sled, I pushed myself off the hill, and a grin found its way on its proper spot on my face. I watched the swingset come closer, and realized my brother wasn't nearby. "Chris!" I exclaimed, trying to get his attention as the swingset loomed closer and closer, the sled had accelerated the the point where there was no way my brother could make it in time to stop me from hitting the swingset.

I did the only thing that came to mind right before the swingset hit me: I ducked and cowered, expecting the swing to still hit me. Nothing happened. I felt the sled come to a gentle stop. Still no conk on the head. I tentatively peeked out of the safe place my head had found in my lap, and found that I was in the woods. I had successfully avoided getting killed by the swingset.

My eyes widened in excitement, and the first words out of my mouth were a loud, "CHRIS! Did you see that?!"