So the other day school was canceled because of snow. It was a near perfect kind of snow — not too much (about 4 inches) and heavy, but not so heavy it broke tree branches — at least around here. But it was pretty wet. I didn’t even have to brush off the car because gravity and the curved surfaces on the Camry did it for me.

Andrew made plans to go sledding with some friends before he went to an unofficial wrestling practice at a local private school that didn’t have a snow day. I was out shopping for food for book group so didn’t see him when he got back from sledding, but when I did get home I passed his computer and saw what was on the monitor:

WebMD — symptoms of frostbite

I chuckled to myself thinking his hands probably got a little cold and thought it was frostbite.

Later when Dean got home I told him about the search Andrew had done and he thought the same thing I did.

Then Andrew got home and I asked him which part of his body did he think was frostbitten. He took off his shoe and showed me his foot. It had large black patches on it. He said that when he saw his foot and Googled frostbite the article mentioned blackness.

I think I must have gotten shrill as I made plans to rush him to the emergency room. Dean suggested we call a doctor. I was about to find the telephone number when someone — Andrew maybe? or perhaps Dean — realized that if he really did have frostbite he would be in a lot of pain.

Then I remembered that when I came back from shopping I tripped over his shoes. His wet shoes. His wet BLACK shoes.

Of course Andrew had already figured this out.

Kids!