Snow Day 2014

My eyes slowly fluttered open after a wonderfully relaxed sleep. Wonderfully relaxed because there was the knowledge that the coming morning would bring a snow day. After a snowfall of nearly a foot, there’s not much you can do about going to work, school, the store, or anywhere other than the driveway to shovel it. And that doesn’t need to be done at the crack of dawn in any case.

As my eyes attempted to focus on anything, I noticed the bright light streaming through my windows. Quite the change from the day before. The prior day held blizzard-like conditions with below freezing temperatures. It snowed so hard that you could hear the hiss of the precipitation piling up upon itself. It was not pretty, it was furious.

Still wrapped in my warm cocoon of blankets, I rolled over to face you. Your smile was my greeting and, uncharacteristically of me, I smiled back.

I could smell the fresh brewed espresso and knew that you had been waiting for me to wake up and start the day.

You handed me my espresso and asked, “Do you want to do something fun today?”

As you continued to smile at me, I wondered what you were up to. We were pretty much house-bound. Were we going to have a movie marathon? Were we going to do some small project that we put off for the last few years because of no time, no money, or no interest – but it still needed to be done? Were we going to whip up something delicious in the kitchen that would make the house smell like a home? Or, my personal favorite, make a fire and read books by it all day?

I felt I knew the “something fun” list so I agreed to it immediately. “Something fun” means exactly that, right? Some thing fun.

Excited to start my day with something fun, I hopped out of bed and ran to the window to see what Father Winter had done to my neighborhood.

My yard looked like a postcard. It was beautiful. The sky was that electric blue with not a cloud lingering. The snow was draped ever so gracefully over my yard. Hiding any blemishes that might have been lurking beneath. It was a winter wonderland in the best way. Not the nightmare like the day before.

I turned to asked you, “What’s something fun?” and you told me, “How about learning how to use the snow blower today?”

Huh.

Not exactly the “something fun” I originally agreed to. Mental note: must ask questions before agreeing to anything.

Seeing that I had already agreed and that you appeared to be excited about the whole experience, I got myself ready to do some learnin’. In good conscience I couldn’t have to do it all by yourself anyway, so I might as well get a move on.

I jammed myself into 1 pair of socks, leggings, long-sleeved t-shirt, sweater, boots, snow pants, ski jacket, heavy gloves, hat and scarf. I was ready.

The learning was quick. It was surprisingly easy to use. In no time I was blasting snow away from my driveway. Clearing paths and having fun.

Yes, I admit it, damn it. I was doing something fun. You knew I would have fun, even working.

I was having so much fun that I decided to do the neighbors driveway too. So not only was I doing something fun, but I was doing something nice and that feels pretty good too.

After I ran out of places to run the snow blower over, I realized that my learning adventure was ending.

We put things away in their proper places and headed into the warmth of our home.

My cheeks were rosy from exercise and the cold and I had light snow blasted onto my hat and hair poking out.

We retreated to the foyer to peel off our protective layers and you started to laugh. Feeling pretty good about myself and the job I did, I began to laugh too. Why not? It’s all good.

You sheepishly admitted, “I felt like I was Tom Sawyer and I was getting you to white-wash the fence.”

I laughed at you and admitted that it felt like that to me too, but it still wound up being a fun project.

Oddly enough, as I think back on the other day I can’t help but hope for more snow this season so I can take care of the driveway again.