Since I’m a snowman, it’s probably not too weird that on my first day, I woke up naked. It was uncomfortable for me to realize that I was an unfinished snowman on the edge of the park, without any clothes or even a nose of my own; I felt embarrassed. No one else noticed, but my one little boy noticed me. My Friend smoothed out my shape and then he pulled off a long red scarf he was wearing and wrapped it around my neck. Then, seeing that my nose was missing, he mumbled, “You need a nose.” Then, he left for a while. As he returned with something in his hand, I realized that he was carrying a carrot. My face was frozen so hard that the boy had to work hard to get my carrot nose in place, but with patience and kindness, this Friend kept trying until my nose was perfect. It felt so good to be dressed and presentable! I was proud of my nice, orange carrot nose. I loved my red, long scarf. All I wanted now was a hat. I wouldn’t complain, though. I was just so happy to have the help of this great kid. 

I figured even without a hat, I looked pretty good, until a bunch of swirling wind and twigs made small dents on my head. Thankfully, my Friend wasn’t done being kind to me. The next day, my Friend came by and began smoothing the snow around my face. Suddenly, he looked up at my head and realized what was missing. He said, “Wait here, Josh. I’ll be back after a while.” That’s how I got my name. It’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?

I rested all night in the quiet of the empty park until the next day. The next afternoon, my Friend came right up to me with another beautiful child, a girl that he called Mary. Together, they put the hat on my head and began smiling and laughing about how nice I looked. “Isn’t Josh a spectacular snowman?” my Friend said. It made me happy to think that they liked me. Then, they ran off, and when they returned, they each had mugs of hot chocolate. I didn’t want any of it, of course; I could melt if I drank it. But they hung out with me as they finished drinking, talking about their plans for the week, sharing funny stories, and were such good friends that their laughter made me feel cozy inside. 

Every day, they came back and spent time playing at the park, and then they came close to me and talked about their day. It was so much fun that my straight mouth slowly became a curved smile. Okay, the truth was that Mary and my friend changed the shape of my smile, but I like to think that their cheerfulness caused the change. 

A few weeks later, something began happening to me. The rays of the bright, yellow sun began to feel hotter than before. Winter was almost over. At first, I just became shiny and smooth. But then, slowly, my snowy body began to change shape. I don’t think I looked very nice, because the children looked sad and tried to console me. I was okay with it, though. A snowman does not like warm weather, so we allow ourselves to melt away and wait for the snow to return. Only then can we be reborn. 

When the cold winter snow fell again, my friends reformed my body and dressed me up in a different red scarf, and they brought their hot chocolate and their smiles, too. Every year, I saw them get bigger and bigger, and every winter, I got to enjoy the fun of their conversations and their laughter as they played at the park after school every day. During holidays, they brought cousins and neighbors to meet me, and they would speak very low and seriously as they said, “Josh, I have a new friend for you today.” Meeting new friends was the best fun of all! 

One winter, I waited for a long while to be reborn, but no one came. Years passed, and I decided that I would just lie in a layer on the ground from now on, but suddenly one day, my Friend came back with Mary, and now with some small children. I finally learned his name, and it was “Daddy.” Mary’s name changed, though, and it was “Mommy” now. Every year, Daddy and Mommy came back to build me up with more children, and together, they drank their hot chocolate and spent time with me again. The years passed, and after a while, I had to wait a long time again. This time when my friend came back, he had a new name, “Grandpa.” He brought new children, and as they ran and played, I realized that Mary’s name had changed again, this time to “Grandma.” The new children grew, and other children came, and Grandpa’s name became “Great Grandpa” sometimes. I never figured out why. 

Today, I am wrapped up in my red scarf, with a pretty carrot nose, and my Friend is coming to dress me again, with a big smile and a nice, new hat for him and for me. There is nothing better than being with my Friend. I see that the children who call him Grandpa and Great Grandpa have been building other types of snowmen all around me this time. That’s probably because there are a lot of new kids this year. My friend and Mary are moving slowly as they dress me today, and they take a lot of breaks to rest. Somehow, I get a feeling that this will be the last time they come to the park. 

As he pulls out his hot chocolate and pours some for Mary, my Friend confirms my suspicion when he tells me that he’ll be gone someday soon. For a moment, I’m sad, but as I think about it, I decided that it will be okay. I am grateful for Grandpa and Grandma Mary, who helped me to have such a great time as year after year the snow returned. If he’s okay with going away, I can be okay with it, too.

Besides, I know that new children keep coming to take Grandpa’s place, and new snowmen are growing up all around me to take my place when I’m gone, too. As I see Grandpa’s children building a snow dog, I smile. On my left is a lopsided snow cat that two of the children have made. Suddenly, I hope that one of the children will name their new snowman after me next year when I’m gone. I don’t mind sharing it. After all, I’d hate for my name to go to waste, because Josh is a pretty great name, isn’t it? 

Story Written by Stephanie Orsini from stephanieorsini.com