Trail of Tears: Sledding on Storm Day
Yesterday was a snow day. 9.4 inches of powder fell upon New York City along with gusting winds and cold temperatures causing much of that snow to turn to ice. One person died in the Upper East Side. As my 8 year old son was at home with his mother, I wanted to spend time with him, so around mid-day I ventured out for a 20 minute walk over to their place from Park Slope to Prospect Heights. Due to the wind and swirling snow, the walk was frigid and unpleasant. I get there, my son and I hang out for a bit primarily working on a comic that we are co-authoring, but my ex appears hell-bent on getting our kid outside the apartment. He badly wants a play date, because I don’t present the company he wants as he complains of being alone.
Since I had first-hand experience being outside, I wasn’t so keen on taking him out. However, it was now a couple hours later, the snow had stopped and according to my ex the wind had calmed down. She showed us a picture of a few people sledding in Prospect Park and told us to get outside. In the tradition of our failed marriage, I obliged against my own judgement. In order to satiate my kid’s demand, I offered to take one of his friends and that boy’s little sister (a first grader) out with us. (The two boys are in the third grade.) The parents were happy to accept the offer. My son quickly got ready and gleefully ran down the block and half to his friend’s building.
After a meltdown by the little girl with her mom over mittens that were not at all for the snow, we all head out. For the most part it’s fine, though the two boys are kind of not listening. But after 1.5hr, the big brother pegs the little sister in the arm with a piece of ice, she breaks down crying and between sobs tells me that she’s going to have a bruise there. So, I say it’s time to go. The girl is at my side ready to head home, however the boys are still throwing ice. I start yelling. We trudge along and get the brother and sister home (not without incident as the friend pelts my kid’s head with a large piece of ice). After dropping them off, my kid has a melt down because he wants to stay with his friend… He informs me that I’m not his father, I’m just a guy named Ricardo.
I drop him off at his mother’s, then I head to my place which means crossing Prospect Park. At this point, the temperature is dropping and the winds are gusting and everywhere I look, kids are crying and parents are either ignoring them as they drag them along or yelling at the kids. One mom chaperoning four kids, looses a kid on the sled that she is pulling as a large mound of ice causes him to bounce off the sled. It’s five paces later, with everyone observing yelling to her that she lost a kid that she finally looks back only to scream at the kid to hurry up and run…
The take away – take the kids out sledding the day after the snow storm.