When you watch the news during the winter time and you see all these accidents happening involving snow, you never really know how dangerous those tiny little snowflakes could actually be. Now, my story isn’t as bad or horrific as a car accident but to an 11 year old girl it was frightening.

It was a cold afternoon in Plains, Pennsylvania, there was about 3 feet of snow on the ground and it was between 34 and 40 degrees outside, it was cold. I remember waking up in the morning with excitement to see the fluffy white stuff on the ground, wanting to hurry up and finish my day’s chores and play outside. It was a weekday but all the kids in our school district had off because there was too much snow, so we had our first official snow day of the winter season. After my sisters and I finished our chores we hurried up and ate breakfast and started hounding our mom to go outside and play in the snow.

“Can we please go outside now?” Emma, my sister asked.

“Yeah, please mom,” I begged “I’ll keep an eye on my sisters.” I promised.

“Alright, you can,” My mom started to say and we cheered, “But, you have to check in with me every now and then so I know you’re okay, got it?” My mom said, sternly.

“Got it.” My sisters and I replied. Showing her that we understood her rule.

“Alright, go get your snow suits on; make sure you girls dress warm. I don’t need you two getting sick a day before school starts up again.” She said as she pointed at my younger sister Emma and me. She didn’t point at my other sister Olivia because she was still young and not old enough to go to school yet.

So, my sisters and I ran up the stairs to our bedrooms and rushed to put on our snow suits, hats, gloves and scarfs so that our mom wouldn’t yell at us for not keeping warm.

“Lily, have you seen my purple hat anywhere? It has pink polka dots on it too, I can’t find it.” Olivia asked me. She looked frustrated.

“I haven’t, but check in the tote that we keep all the winter clothing in.” I said to her. I turned towards my other sister. “Em, come on, hurry up, Liv wants to play with her friend Lexi. She’s probably waiting for us.” I said to Emma.

She was taking forever to get ready. “Hold your horses Lil, I can’t find my other boot.” Emma yelled. I honestly don’t know what to do with my sisters, you can’t live with them but you can’t live without them.

While I was waiting for them to get ready, I looked out the window in our room that I shared with my sisters. It was still snowing out, but it wasn’t a lot. Which I was thankful for, when you have glasses and it snows really hard, it’s really difficult to see what you’re doing. I also have to be careful with my glasses when I’m playing in the snow, it’s the only pair I have and without them, I’m as blind as a bat.

“Lily!” My sisters yelled, “We’re ready!”

“Okay, I’m coming.” Finally I thought, as I hurried up and rushed down the stairs.

“Ready, girls?” I asked my sisters. They nodded their heads and smiled with a big toothy grin. “Mom, we’re heading outside now. We’ll check in, in a little while.” I shouted to her as we ran out the door. I heard a faint ‘Okay, be careful’ from my mom. I’m so glad my mom told us to dress warm out here, it’s freezing. I know once we start playing in the snow, I’ll forget about the coldness and just have fun though.

“Lily, can we knock on Lexi’s door? We want to play with her.” Olivia said.

“Sure, let’s go. I’ll come with you, since I have to keep an eye on you two.” I replied nodding.

There  was no snow on the road due to the snow plows scooping the white sludge up off the ground during the night and early in the morning. Once we crossed the street safely, we trudged up through the snow that was still on the sidewalk. Who ever said trying to walk in a big bulky snowsuit was easy, was lying. It’s even more difficult when you have snow boots on your feet too.

We walked up to Lexi’s house and Emma knocked on her door. While we were waiting for her to answer, I took off my glasses and wiped of the watery substance that the snowflakes left behind on the lens of my glasses. Finally, Lexi’s  mom answered the door.

“Hey girls, what’s up?” Lexi”s mom asked.

“Can Lex come out and play in the snow with us?” My sisters asked.

“Yep, she’s coming. She had her snowsuit on already, just give her a couple of minutes to put her boots, hat, and gloves on.” She said.

“Alright. Is it okay if we wait here,” I pointed to her porch. “For her?” I asked.

“Yeah, no problem girls.” Lex’s mom said.

As soon as she said that, we saw Lexi in the doorway with her snowsuit, jacket, hat and gloves on, she was struggling to put her on her snow boots. “Mom, can you help me put on my boots?” Lexi asked. “Yeah, here ya go Lex. Have fun girls!” Her mom said after she put them on her daughter's feet.

“So what should we do?” Emma asked.

“Oh! Can we build an igloo Lily? It’ll be fun, you used to build igloos with our cousins, remember? Please, with a cherry on top?” Olivia asked. Em and Lex nodded their heads with a big smile. How could I say no to their smiling faces? “Yeah, we can. Let’s build it in front of Lex’s house she has the most snow in her front yard.” I replied. As soon as they heard me say ‘yes’ they started cheering and they had the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen. I’m glad I could make them smile, it makes me feel like I accomplished something good today by saying ‘yes’.

“Alright, so first we have to shovel all the snow into a big pile. Emma, you can help me with the shoveling. Liv and Lex, whenever we put the snow on top of the pile you can use your hand and pat it down hard, that way it’ll be compacted and it won’t collapse, got it?” I asked the little ones. They nodded and we got to work.

We shoveled and compacted until the snow was piled up, it kind of looked like a small hill. Within 20 minutes we were done and we were ready for step two.

“Hey Liv, why don’t you and Lex go play while Emma and I dig out the inside of the igloo. We’ll call you girls when we’re making the windows, okay?” I asked them.

“Okay, Lily we’re going to build a snowman in front of our house. Call us if you need anything!” Olivia exclaimed.
“Emma, I’m going to use the smaller shovel and dig out the middle. Just take the snow that I dig out and pack it to the outside of the igloo. The snow seems to be hard enough but It will make the igloo stay up longer.” I said. “Got it sis!” Em said.

I started digging and digging and after 10 minutes, I finally could fit in the igloo, enough where my head and upper body could fit. I started to shovel out a window so I could call my sister to tell her to come inside to help me dig out the rest but as soon as I hit the side of the igloo or the wall with the shovel it was too late. I was under- under about 4 feet of snow. I was buried from my nose all the way down. I couldn’t see, I was panicking. I couldn’t move my arms or legs, I was really scared. I started to scream.

“Someone! Help! Emma! Please!” I yelled, though, it was a little muffled since my mouth was covered. I was terrified, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “Emma!” I yelled once again.

“It’s okay Lil, just hang in there. I’m going to get you out, don’t worry. Just breathe!” My sister tried to calm me down. I started to calm down and I tried to take deep breathes. I started to feel a shovel on the side of my body where my arm laid. A couple more tries of my sister shoveling my arm was free and gradually and slowly my legs were free and it was enough to where my sister could pull me out. I was so cold, my hat, gloves, boots and my glasses were gone, I couldn’t see.

“It’s okay Lily. I got you sis!” Emma said as she wrapped her arms around me and tried to comfort me with her hug. It worked a little bit. “You’re okay, I got you!” She said. I was so grateful she was there, she was the best.
I was crying.”Thank you, Emma! I was so scared, I couldn’t see anything and it was hard to breathe.” I sobbed.
“Come on, let’s get you in the house, You’re freezing!” Emma exclaimed. My sister helped me up and gave me a blurry object that I couldn’t see. “I found your glasses and one of your snowboots but I can’t find your hat, gloves or your other boot. I’ll try to look for it when I get you in the house. You’re crying and I don’t want your tears to turn to icicles.” She tried to joke. I chuckled a little bit, but I was still shaken up. I wasn’t over with what happened yet. She was still hugging me while we crossed the street to our house. I was bootless and my foot was freezing! We finally got to our house and my mom was standing out on the porch waiting for us.

“Come on Lil, lets get you in the house. I got hot chocolate waiting for you. Go change into your pajamas and you can lay on the couch and warm up.” My Mom said and I did exactly that.

I’m grateful and lucky my sister was there. She’s my savior, I don’t know what I would’ve did without her. I’m always going to remember this day and that I shouldn’t take my sisters for granted or life for that matter. They’ll always be there when you need them, whether you’re sick, sad or if you get into a terrible situation like I did. Just remember, family is really important.