Oh no my tongue

When you were a kid, did you remember bundling up to go out and play in the snow?  Running through the snow and making snow angels?  Playing outside in the snow until your fingers and toes felt frozen?  Have you ever been in an area that was so cold that if you touched metal your fingers would stick to it? 

We were raised in Saskatchewan, Canada.  The middle of the prairies is nothing if not fridgid in the winter.  The wind blows all the time and chills you to the bone.  When I say chills you to the bone I mean it.  I can remember a day walking home from school.  I got to the bottom of the hill that led to our house and was met by my mom or dad, I'm not sure.  When they saw me, I had my coat flapping in the wind that whipped through the valley, and my nose had been running and had frozen to my cheek and chin.  All I can remember is being scooped up and taken home and warmed up.  No one was happy about how I was dressed when I left the school for the long walk(about 5 or 6 blocks)home.  I am sure that there was some words said to the teacher about it.  No one ever said anything to me though.

I lived in a place that was so cold in the winter, you spent a lot of time inside, but kids will only take so much inside time.   When you did go out, you bundled up so much, the most you could see on a kid was their eyes.  We would often go to grandma's house to visit, and she lived less than half a block from a small park with swings, monkey bars and teeter totters.  It was fun to spend time crawling all over the equipment.  During the Spring, Summer and Fall we would spend hours in the park playing.  It was not as much fun in the winter when the metal became very cold and would stick to your gloves when wet.  Leaving a boot in the snow or a glove stuck to the monkey bars now and then was not bad, but it was a totally different story when it came to skin. 

I can remember the day that we were playing in the park and someone, in their infinite wisdom decided to dare us to stick our tongues on the monkey bars.  Now most kids were smart enough to say no way.  We on the other hand, had never done this before and thought it would be cool to feel the frigid cold of the metal.  Now I can't remember which one of us was the stupid one, but I do remember the yelling that blasted through the air, when the tongue stuck and would not let go.  Pulling ensued.  Pain and screaming began.  Off we ran to get Mom.

Yelling and screaming hysterical little girls running at you is enough to throw anyone off their game.   Mom was beside herself.  Getting two little girls to stop screaming and calm down enough to get them to tell you what had happened was hard to do.  Finally she realized what was trying to be said.  She got a kettle and filled it with hot water and started out for the park.  Here to her surprise was a little girl with her tongue firmly placed on the metal rung of the monkey bars.  Out of the kettle came the hot water as she poured it slowly over the bar and the tongue of the crying child.  After a few seconds of warmth, the tongue let go and then the real crying began.  Scooped up in mom's arms and carried back to grama's was a crying and very scared little girl.

Now I have a great memory for things that have happened in my life, but for the life of me I cannot remember who it was that stuck their tongue on the monkey bars.  I think it was my sister Deb.  Deb says it was me, and both of us after talking think that maybe it was Char, more because we could usually talk her into doing just about anything.  She is the youngest of us and usually the easiest to get to do things, or at least back then.  Over the years, we have talked each other into and out of a lot of things, but I will never forget that day.  The day the tongue got stuck to the monkey bars.