I love snow

I love the snow. I love the snow!

But I love the snow when I’m rolling around in the front yard with William. I love the snow when I’m sitting in my bedroom staring out the window with hot chocolate in my hand. I love the snow on sunny days when the roads are clear and the grassy areas are covered in white, glimmering snow. It’s so bright that you’re almost blinded by the snow, not the sun. It’s beautiful and I think it is one of nature’s most majestic creations. I love it!

This morning, however, I did not love it. I loathed it. More than that, I loathed everything that entered my mind.

If you’re ever bored on a snowy morning and find yourself wandering my neighborhood, just stop by my house for some great entertainment. This is the girl who was iced INTO her car in college. I was not made for logistically maneuvering through winter conditions…and shoveling the driveway is not one of my stronger skills.

I’ve heard there’s an art to shoveling, I just plain don’t know how to do it. Do you go sideways? Or do you go straight down and back up? And how do you manage to not throw snow over the path you just shoveled? And where do you put the snow when it is climbing over the top of your shovel? And what do you do when you’re on a roll and then the shovel hits one of the many (concerning) cracks in the driveway? And how do you clear the snow that has built up around the tires of the truck that is park smack dab in the middle of the driveway?

I don’t know the answers to any of these questions and I didn’t figure them out in my 40 minutes of shoveling today. It would have been comical to my neighbors, but none of my neighbors saw because apparently they don’t have jobs that require them to show up at 8am on snow days. NO ONE ELSE was out shoveling their driveway. No cars were warming up, there was no movement in my circle.

Except me. This little ol’ aggie girl who is shoveling snow everywhere BUT off the driveway. The girl who walked outside with her hair done nice and pretty and didn’t think to put a hat on (or gloves) and walked in looking like a swamp rat. This little ol’ girl reciting “be joyful in all things” and “F*** YOU ARMY” in the same breath. Now, I generally have a quota per year of the times I’m allowed to say the F word – I hate the word and I hate when I say it, but in the context of this morning it did the job it was meant to do. It made me feel better! I may have exceeded my quota for 2011 and I still have 2 months to go…but that’s ok. I don’t mind. Because you know what? I don’t want to shovel my driveway. I want to sit inside and have a nice hot cup of hot chocolate waiting for Austin after HE shovels the driveway. Or I want the city to shut down and to lay in bed snuggled in covers all day watching the beautiful majestic snow falling.

That’s the kind of snow I love.

So the next time a storm rolls in just come park your car in front of my house approximately 5 minutes after my targeted departure time and you’ll find me strolling out the door…stunned at the realization that I should have been out there half an hour earlier…and the entertainment will commence.


- manda