Christmas miracle took us back to younger days
Published: January 1, 2005
Make sure you’re “in the picture”
There were no adults in Brownsville on Christmas Day.
They were kidnapped by a snow storm that blew in to the Rio Grande Valley early that morning — at least that’s the best explanation I can give for the epidemic of child-like behavior observed in front yards and streets across town.
Children (of all ages) rushed outside in freezing temperatures to build intricate snowmen and grab fistfuls of snow to hurl at unsuspecting observers of the meteorological miracle that took more than a century to arrive.
At about 2 a.m. on Dec. 25, neighbors could be seen at their doorstep, debating whether what was falling from the sky and onto their palm trees was rain, sleet or snow.
After about an hour, it was clear.
“It’s snowing! It’s snowing!” my neighbor exclaimed with a childish glee. “This is the best Christmas ever!”
He’s more than 50 years old.
My own joy at the sight of snow was delayed by thoughts of the next day’s newspaper. My heart began to race.
I made a few calls to a reporter, photographer and my editor to make sure the historic event was covered. I even made a 3 a.m. call to the National Weather Service, where meteorologists were just as excited and surprised.
My next thought was to grab my notebook and capture the moment — ask a few questions, get a few quotes.
Just the basics.
“Is this the first time you see snow? What do you think about snow on your palm trees? What’s all this like for you?”
But something stopped me.
I put down my reporter’s notebook, grabbed my coat and stepped outside to take a good look around and soak it all in.
For the first time I decided to live “the story” so that I could have these memories to share with my children and grandchildren.
The historic snowfall meant a busy workday for Brownsville Herald reporter Kevin Garcia who volunteered to work the holiday.
Like most of us, he didn’t expect the unexpected White Christmas.
Garcia worked diligently, taking photos, asking questions, and braving the slick city streets for more information to feed into his article.
He reported on everything from electrical outages to first snowmen to the weather’s effects on plants and animals.
The education beat reporter transformed into a weather correspondent.
When I returned to the office Monday, he had many photos to show, some from people, mostly strangers, who e-mailed them to him.
“Look at this one,” he said.
“Isn’t this one funny?”
We pored over photos and phone messages from people wanting to share their snow stories.
One caller was so ecstatic, she yelled into the phone: “It’s raining! It’s raining in Brownsville! Go out and cover it! Can you believe it? It’s raining!”
We’re sure she meant it was snowing.
Crime reporter Sergio Chapa wrote a story about a suspected thief that was tracked down by police from the footprints he left in the snow, leading from the crime scene to his house.
In all of the hubbub, Garcia became somewhat melancholy. After looking through all those photos, he realized that not one had him in it.
He spent so much time working behind a camera that he failed to stand in front of one.
It is an all too familiar moment for journalists that stand outside the fray as observers and recorders of history.
Sometimes, working a story can feel like you’ve missed out on life’s most important moments.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: