This was contrary to what people told us when we moved here: "No, it doesn't snow much in Lexington. Perhaps once or twice, but nothing too major." Sounds like what they told us in Seattle, too, before huge snowstorms almost derailed our wedding 14 months ago. Perhaps the snow really is our fault?
Anyway, Snowstorm + Homeowner = Snow shoveling!
There is a purifying element that comes from the back and forth motion of shoveling. The scrape of the shovel on the pavement. The cool in the air. The unspoken bond of neighbors shoveling concurrently. As Calvin's Dad told him, "It builds character."
During my university years, my favorite part about coming home for Christmas was the possibility that it would snow and I would get to shovel snow with my dad. (Well, he would snow blow while I shoveled. Whatever.)
Last week, then, I got up early one morning before work to quickly shovel the driveway. The snow was heavy, but there were only a few inches and it wasn't long before I was the envy of all the cul-de-sac.
Well, by the time the afternoon came around, the wind had blown around the snow so much that I had to shovel again. In the sidewalks, you couldn't even see that I had so meticulously cleared the snow only a few hours earlier. I began to clear the snow again.
The wind was stronger this time. Any time I attempted to clear the snow toward the south, it blew right back at me. I also had a difficult time with my shovel - although it was very good at clearing large amounts of snow, it is plastic and I could not remove any of the ice and packed snow.
In addition, there is this strange phenonoma in my subdivision. The trees that line the streets never lost their leaves. A large majority of the leaves continue to hang, dead and brown, from the trees. The wind blew through the trees gave an eery note to my snow shoveling.
A weekend of this back and forth has not diminished my love for snow shoveling. Yes, I go out there even if I know that a good portion will be blown back onto my driveway in a few hours. Like Sisyphus, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus) the struggle itself is enough to fill my heart. I am happy.
3 comments:
Shoveling snow always reminded me of the creepy neighbor on Home Alone. But I guess he turned out to be a nice old man.
I think the 20 years I shoveled snow by hand in Utah, Colorado, Nebraska and Michigan qualified me to spend $75 on a small, used snow blower and have no regrets about using it.
We do have an ice scraper...if you were that worried about the ice :) I do appreciate you shoveling though :)
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