I was born during a blizzard in February of 1963 (a good year! I am now VINTAGE!) For most of my life there has been a snow storm or heavy snowfall on my birthday. I tend to not mind this. I grew up enjoying snow. And the cold meant that there were no mosquitos to worry about, there was no blistering heat, there was opportunity to build snow forts and go sledding. Snowball fights were always fun.
Over the years, however, I have come to know snow and cold differently. They are now more in the category of silent killers. People shoveling snow have to be careful to not give themselves heart attacks doing it. People have to be careful to dress warmly or risk frostbite or the possibility of freezing to death. Too many people die due to sudden white outs during a drive from one location to another.
I think that both positive and negative perspectives on winter are true. After all, it is a mark of intelligence that one can hold two opposing views at the same time.
I have found, since I began to get older, that the cold itself affects me negatively. I used to love it. Now…I do not. I feel it deep in the marrow of my bones. No matter how much I bundle up, even indoors, I feel chilled. I am extremely grateful for our fireplace and the fact that, being gas, I can, with the press of a button, turn it on and have heat, even if the power goes out. I am also grateful for our hand held leaf blower that can be used to clear snow when it is light and fluffy, as well as our gas powered snowblower for when the snow is wet and thick. I do not like shoveling snow. It is literally a pain. It tends to really pile in around our two entrances. Sometimes I find myself having to shovel out four feet of snowbank just to be able to get to the garage where the snowblower is.
Still, with all of this, I do enjoy the fact that the air is clean and clear, even if it is -35 C with a wind chill that takes the temperapture even lower. I am also grateful that I do have a warm home to come into and warm up. There are too many people who are homeless and too few shelters for them. This makes my heart sad. And, although I don’t want to open my home to strangers, I do hope that what little I can contribute to the existing shelters will help.
And now…back to work and, hopefully, a day free of any further snow removal tasks.