Harbor Life Ministries

There are some winters where you feel sorry for the people who own snowmobiles and snowblowers, and you believe the scientists are right about global warming.

The other winters are good winters, even if it means too many back-breaking shoveling days, because winter north of the 38th parallel is supposed to be white on most days that fall between Christmas and the day when the buzzards return to Hinckley.

So when the school shuts down for a snow day–something that legislators believe should happen no more than five times per winter in Ohio (although morning delays can happen as often as you like)–the focus of most young minds will shift to the “Hill.”

In Celina, the “Hill” is a man-made pile of ground in Eastview Park that acts as a barrier in summer to keep the long balls from rolling into the pond. On a snow day in winter, however, the Hill–which is only maybe 50 yards in any direction from its summit to the flatlands at the base–is filled with hundreds of kids. It’s like the mall on a Saturday in mid-December.

That’s why we sledded at night, usually after 11 p.m. If we wanted to go day-sledding we would leave Celina altogether and head 6 miles due east on the double-lane, to the first exit with a ramp up. From the top of the ramp, the Hill–which was only snow-covered when we had at least 6 inches of snow due to the tall weeds–gently sloped down about 500 feet to meet an Ohio Department of Transportation fence.

No one else knew of this place. At least we never found anyone else sledding on our hill.

Norwalk has a “Hill” too. It’s called Hogan’s Hill and it’s all natural; nothing manmade except the guardrail that separates the children from the traffic which seems to pass dangerously close. Thankfully the road borders the peak of the hill and not its base. That’s the river’s job, although it meanders far enough away from the bottom to keep from being dangerous to slide into.

We made our first trip to Hogan’s Hill today–Sara, Kara, Kavin and me. It’s about a five minute walk to Hogan’s Hill and now I know that the excitement from sledding in Norwalk comes from walking on Elm Street, which has no sidewalk on the hill side of the road. Just the guardrail.

Just to prove I haven’t turned 50 yet I gave Hogan’s Hill a try. It was a lot of fun but after trudging back up the hill I proved that I’m closer to 50 than I am to 40. Maybe I discovered the origin of the expression “over the Hill.”