Th*nk*ng Closings & The Cold

by Fred Cederholm

I’ve been thinking about closings. Actually, I’ve been thinking about the weather, temperatures, snow, high school, U of I, the dorm, travel, rain, public accounting, “you don’t gotta,” and cocooning. Can you believe this weather? The whole of North America seems to be in the deep freeze with an arctic “hernia” descending across the lower 48 states. As I have said before: “the more things change, the more they stay the same…” 2014 has thus far caused a number of flash backs taking me back all the way to my high school days. Now the memories are not nightmares, but benchmarks in a lifetime of surviving what Mother Nature threw at me.

You see a lifetime is a series of events which challenge us to our very core. There are good things, but there are those weather glitches which literally shut things down completely for you. As I watched the news casts, listened for the closings, and focused on the weather; I thought about those time when temperatures, snow, rain, hurricanes, and wind brought my life to a halt — or at other times, I really wish they had. I love the seasons and particularly the winter months where as a kid I could build snow forts, make snowmen, go sledding. But face it, when you are an adult and shivering to your very core, the cold get old fast!
I TH*NK back to those high school days when I waited out in sub-zero weather for the bus. My folks and I watched the TV and learned that everything was closed, but Rochelle Township High School! School would be open, the busses would not run, but you were expected to get there regardless. When the thermometer hit zero, the girls were finally allowed to come to school in pants. Times were different then… now we have a much saner approach and have what are dubbed “snow days.” The rapid rise in personal liability claims I believe had a major part in this change of attitude about closings.

I spent almost a decade at the U of I in Champaign. In the mid-1970s the university shut down for the first time in its history when 37 inches of snow were dumped on it in a 24 hour period. Nothing moved, everything shut down, and we were confined to the dorms for almost a week. I was head resident at Hendrick House and none of the cooks, or kitchen helpers could get there. I drafted six other students and the other floor advisors to prepare the food for 350 people for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The afternoon of the third day some of the guys made it to the apartment of the food service manager and delivered her to Hendrick House via a snowmobile! As the front page headline for the Daily Illini (the school newspaper) stated “Hell Has Finally Frozen Over…” The streets were eventually cleared and final exams were held as scheduled.

When I began working in Texas, Houston was temporarily shut down by a quarter of an inch of snow. There were no snow plows or salt spreaders in all of Harris County! The Texans just could not seem to get the hang of driving on snow even if it was less than a half an inch. 40 to 50 car pile ups on the expressways were not a rare occurrence. When hurricane torrents dumped massive amounts of rain, the streets flooded. You just waited until the water went down.

I never experienced any travel problems because of these weather glitches except maybe my car had trouble starting in Chicago during the last super cold spell of thirty-plus years ago. Public accounting was like the post office… nothing would stop progress on your job. I may have been late at times to my assignments, but I eventually made it there, and put in a full eight hours. This is stuff that “builds character” as I was told by the partners who, by the way, stayed in the office, drank coffee, and looked out the windows while they called staff on the phone.

Now I am “retired,” and as my mother frequently said: “I don’t gotta, unless I wanna…” No truer words were ever spoken. I am truly enjoyed the benefits of this stint of so-called cabin fever. I have not left the house since the Friday after Christmas Day! I walk from window to window sipping a steamy mug of cocoa and look out at the Creston tundra. A large inner grim takes over me, and I TH*NK that unlike the Green Bay Packer fans, I don’t have to keep my beer in a cooler to keep it from freezing…  I’m Fred Cederholm, and I’ve been thinking. You should be thinking, too.

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