Their First Snowman...

Today was a first for 7 teenage boys… their first time ever building a snow man! Aghhhh, I love it! I was standing on my porch talking to one of the boys and we looked across the parking lot and saw several teenagers throwing snow balls at each other. They saw the two of us talking and began to migrate towards us. We all began throwing snowballs at each other. I stopped and said, “Hey, do you guys want to build a snow man?” They kind of looked at each other, hesitating for fear of losing their coolness, while one of them said with a negative tone, “If we build it, someone will tear it down right away anyways.” I couldn’t let them get by with that excuse, so I said, “Let’s just build one, we’ll take a picture with it and then we’ll at least have the memory of it.” Several of these boys are the tough ones who do their best to show it. But, one boy finally got on board with me and encouraged his friends that it would be a great idea! We all began working together, while sharing our gloves with each other, to build their first snowman. While the boys worked at building it, I ran into my apartment to gather the necessary snowman supplies; a carrot for a nose, Oreos for the eyes and Cheerios for a very big smile. More boys joined in as their peers persuaded them. They were having a BLAST! The snowman was almost done, when we realized that it needed the finishing touches of a hat and scarf. So, one of the boys volunteered to run to his apartment and grab some they didn’t use. The whole time we were building it, I saw these boys come to life. It was something they had never done before and they were proud of it. I grabbed a camera and took pictures. They were eating it up and kept asking me to take more as they posed beside their snowman. When we parted ways, I was left amazed at the simple fun I was able to witness these boys have. They got to be kids all over again.