Digging Out

It has been a winter for the ages. Metro Hartford has topped out with 71", the largest snow total in recorded history. After back-breaking shoveling, I have about had it and there is still 2 months left until spring. I am praying Punxatawny Phil sees his shadow next week.

This morning I moaned and groaned about getting up early to shovel my driveway. I asked my husband for the umpteenth time why we haven't bought a snowblower. Then I paused for a second and looked around. The sun was shining down and radiating off the snow. My neighbors were out clearing their driveways, just like me, and I thought to myself, "this is really beautiful."

I realized I haven't been happy about snow in so long. I used to dread it as a television producer because, inevitably, snowdays were the worst shows. I remember an especially painful broadcast where all my live-shots died at once and I fought the urge to crawl into the fetal position in the control room. I hate snow now because as a call center representative at a utility company, it means I have to deal with cranky callers all day. Including people who tell me sob stories about how their power is out and they are locked out of their house because their garage door won't open. Seriously, who doesn't carry a house key for situations like that? I wished that woman nothing but hurt. The point is that, I hate snow for the havock it wreaks on my life, my job, my back.

But there was a time that I loved snow. I loved it when snow cancelled school and I could spend the whole day sledding with my sister or building a snowman. Snow meant carefree fun and games and hot cocoa waiting for you in a nice warm house. When I got older it meant doing donuts in parking lots with my friends.

I grew up in the woods, in a log cabin and when you walked outside while it was snowing, you couldn't hear a thing. It was complete silence, the snow deadened all sounds. I remember one year as a teenager, during a blizzard, my dad said to me and my sister, "let's go for a walk." And that is what we did. We walked about 2 miles along the empty roads, at nightfall, in snow up to our knees. It was perfect.

Everyone always jokes about how the rest of the country visualizes an idyllic New England winter and how we New Englanders scoff at them. All we see is plow trucks, road salt, highway spin-outs and misery.

I think I would like to go back to just thinking how amazing it is that we have snow at all. I knew a guy in college that grew up in the south and had never seen snow. We went to school in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania near Lake Erie. When that first winter storm hit our campus freshman year, I thought he was going to lose his mind. He was so happy to see snow. We spent hours sledding down hills and getting into snowball fights.

So the next time you think you've had it with this winter, just stop and take a look around. You might just remember why you live where you do and why you put up with snow.