Blizzard of 1980

The recent weather in Colorado has brought my memories of the Blizzard(s)s that hit Indiana in 1980. I was in the first grade and we had just moved to a farm house that was not super insulated. It was my first day for my new school and I got on the school bus with my sisters who were 5 and 6 years older then me. That meant that they were in the 6th and 7th grade. We hopped on our school bus and headed towards school.

It was snowing, which as a 6 year old, I thought was pretty cool. I didn't understand that if I couldn't see much outside the windows that the bus driver probably couldn't either, so I wasn't scared, I was just along for the ride! By the time we got to school a couple hours after we had left our house, school had been cancelled. The bus driver started taking the other kids home. We were the first ones on the bus or just about the first ones on but that doesn't mean you are the first off--I was finding this out for the first time!

Our bus driver lived about a mile from where we lived and she was a farmers wife. She was probably only in her 50's then, but I thought she was much older then that at the time! I probably still would think that if I hadn't seen her a couple years ago and realized that she doesn't look much different now then she did 25 years ago! :)

Anyway, the weather had gotten really bad and there was about a foot of snow on the ground, worse in some places because it drifts really bad in the country. So after she took the kids home that lived in town, she radioed her son and told him to start the tractor up! We pulled into her house and I thought "What's going on?" I was excited to be living the experience and confused all at the same time. I knew my mom didn't know where I was and I didn't understand why the bus driver wasn't just taking me home. I argued with my sisters that I was NOT getting off the bus and they convinced me that even though I was breaking a mom and dad rule that it was okay. The bus driver instructed that the older kids on the bus should keep and eye on the younger ones and help them to the house. I got off the bus I started to run to catch up to a girl that was my age. I was about 10 feet from the bus when I fell flat on my face!

My sisters came back to help me up and my frustrated bus driver said "I told you to be careful!" I didn't understand when we got in the house, why we were not getting taken home first. Everyone else was calling their parents, but we did not have a phone yet. Why didn't we get to go home first so our mom wouldn't worry? **Now I know that it's because I fell and was soaked! So she didn't want me getting into the cold tractor until she had me dry and warm!** I sat by the fire and got to know Sonya a little bit. I was fed and warmed up with hot cocoa. I don't remember a lot more about that day. The biggest memory I have had is that I didn't get to go home first, all these years! :)

When it was time for us to leave my sisters and I piled into a big Case tractor with our bus drivers son. He was an adult, I don't know how old? Probably in his 20's. He had a small heater and it was a cabbed tractor so even though it was cold, we were a little warm. We travelled up the road and about 6 at night, right as it was getting dark we pulled up to the house. My mom came running out and we went running to her! She had been worried about us. I talked to her about this today and she said that she didn't have a phone or a vehicle. She had the tv on, but the reception was really bad, she had managed to hear that some kids were not able to get home and were being kept at their school, she said she had just resolved that this was what they had done with us when we showed up!

We had two storms hit back to back. By the second storm we were out of gas to warm the house, so we were living in the living room that was heated by a wood stove and eating food that my mom could fix on it. Our bus driver stopped by and brought us some food. We had moved in the weekend prior to the first storm, so you can imagine that we had nothing stored or stocked up. We ran out of wood too and the pastor of the church we attended brought us some coal! I remember now that my dad was glad because it burned slower then wood. My mom was not happy. She said today that "the pastor brought us coal. It was dirty, but that was okay because it kept us warm." I could still hear in her voice how the dirt bothered her just thinking about it! Our bus driver brought us water too, she realized our water was frozen and she even had us come to her home to shower. My mom was hesitant to accept that offer. She didn't want to impose with the 5 of us. Alta (the bus driver) told her that it was not an imposition and that she had a shower that the men used in the basement if mom felt more comfortable using it, we could do that--she pointed out that the water didn't stay hot long. We ended up showering there in her basement. Quick showers and I remember thinking how cool it was that the basement had a shower. I even remember my mom saying how she wished she had something like that for when dad came home from the field too!

That was a fun winter for me, I can't imagine how stressful it was for my mom and dad. He was working about 40 to 70 miles from home and we didn't see him much. It took him so long to get to work and come home. Mom has always pointed out that when we were all in the small room we were pretty happy and then she let us spread out when it got warmer and we started fighting again! Maybe God just was blessing her so she didn't have to contend with cranky kids and everything else too! :) Hey, He sent the food and water and coal, he could have made us happy! :)

That pretty much sums up my blizzard of 80 memories in a nut shell. Hope you enjoyed!