Live long enough, and you\u2019ll see some interesting things.\u00a0 If you\u2019re lucky enough, it\u2019s possible you\u2019ll see or be a part of something truly memorable and unusual.\u00a0 Maybe even something historic.<\/p>\n
During my lifetime, I\u2019ve been that fortunate twice.\u00a0 The first time was when I was lucky enough to be in Korea when Reagan visited the DMZ<\/a>, and to provide support for that mission (though I didn\u2019t get to see the actual speech).\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019ll always feel honored to have been there.<\/p>\n The second time occurred some 24 years later.\u00a0 And it was, perhaps, even more memorable than the first.<\/p>\n January 11, 2008 dawned in Baghdad.\u00a0 Just another brutal, muddy, nasty, cold day \u2013 right?<\/p>\n Yes, I did say cold.\u00a0 Although Baghdad and surrounding area indeed gets hellish hot during the summer, during the winter it also gets colder than you might think.\u00a0 Baghdad\u2019s at about the same latitude as Columbus, GA, or Dallas\/Fort Worth, TX \u2013\u00a0 and like those cities, it\u2019s inland.\u00a0 So it does get pretty cool in the winter; today\u2019s high and low there are predicted to be 59 F and 34 F, respectively.<\/p>\n Frost was not common, but was also not unknown.\u00a0 \u00a0And the winter of 2007-2008 was reputedly the coldest in at least a decade.<\/p>\n Baghdad gets most of its rain during the winter, too.\u00a0 And when that little bit of rain hits the finely-powdered silt making up the soil in the Tigris\/Euphrates valley system, the result is . . . different. \u00a0Think wet, sticky paste.\u00a0 Slippery, medium yellow-brown paste.<\/p>\n I think I gained an inch or so in height every time I went outside that winter when things were wet.\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n But January 11, 2008 was different.\u00a0 The sky was steel-grey, and it was still.\u00a0 Things simply felt different than normal.\u00a0 Something was up.\u00a0 And around sunrise, we found out what it was.<\/p>\n It began to snow<\/a>.\u00a0 Big, wet flakes.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t snow much \u2013 just a dusting on exposed items and surfaces; most of it melted on contact. \u00a0And what little stuck didn\u2019t stay around for long at all.<\/p>\n But it snowed.\u00a0 In Baghdad.<\/p>\n Those who\u2019ve never lived in a hot, desert climate can\u2019t really appreciate the impact of a low desert snowfall.\u00a0 It is a truly magnificent sight \u2013 if for no other reason than because they\u2019re generally exceptionally rare.\u00a0 It\u2019s like seeing a horizon-to-horizon double-rainbow.\u00a0 Yes, they can happen.\u00a0 But they\u2019re rare enough that not very many people ever get to see one.<\/p>\n Snow was indeed a rare thing in Baghdad. One source said it had been over 60 years since the last snowfall<\/a> in the area.\u00a0 Others said it had been over a century.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know which is correct.\u00a0 And, frankly, I don\u2019t care.\u00a0 I only know I was lucky enough to see it in person.<\/p>\n Snow.\u00a0 In Baghdad.<\/p>\n And, for what it\u2019s worth:\u00a0 during the snowfall, reportedly things were rather quiet<\/a> in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"