by Brandon Allen

Created on: February 06, 2009

Why would anyone truly appreciate winter? That should be the real question.

I grew up in the Midwest and an hour south of the Great Lakes. I completely enjoy everything about Indiana, from the shopping and restaurants in Indianapolis, to the gambling boat in Michigan City, to the influences of all the different cultures, to the hot summer days and the cool summer nights.

I remember tons of cook outs, fireworks, road trips, festivals, parties, hiking, camping, swimming in the lakes, and horseback riding.

As far as winter is concerned, well that is a totally different circumstance for me.

The only thing that is good about winter is the few times throughout your youth that you got to get out of class or school because of the cold or snow. Although I kind of think that if we had a mandatory hibernation period from the end of fall to the beginning of spring I think a lot more people (including me) would appreciate winters in a totally different aspect.

I remember one year, the year that I graduated from high school. I grew up in very small community, where pretty much everyone in the town knew everyone else in the town. Hell it was so small everyone was on a first name basis.

The year previously we had one of the hottest winters that I can remember. We all loved it! I remember getting out of school for winter-break and walking home with all of our friends. We were all wearing shorts, walking with our shirts off and thrown over our shoulders. If my memories serve me correctly, it did not seem like it snowed until the end of winter.

I think that is because the snow was building up for the storm. That year, as a senior, all of my friends were preparing to leave for the military or college or whatever else people do after high school. Everyone started experiencing "senioritis" right about the time winter break was to commence.
Our school gave us 4 weeks off for winter break, but as the snow hit, we ended up having almost 4 more weeks off due to the snow. I couldn't even believe! It was insane! People could not get out of their homes, driving was almost impossible, and no one had expected that.

I remember my brother (who is 5 years younger than I) and I spent all winter playing video games rotting out the last few brain cells that we had stored up throughout the years.

My dad's factory even closed down. Mom was working for a seed company and my dad would take her into work.

But my brother and I played video games. We sat in that bedroom, day in and day out, playing video games,

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