We just shoveled out from the storm, but clearly the impact of two feet of snow goes far beyond our driveway. A neighbor with a plow plowed part of our street and sections of the other roads that lead out of the neighborhood. He didn't have a big truck, so the sections he completed were quite challenging. He got stuck at least once, just after clearing half of the bottom of our driveway, so Mike helped him get unstuck. At the same time, a car came part way down the road, turned around, waited, and then went back past the stuck truck.
Once we finished shoveling, I took a short walk to check out the streets close to us. What a mess! The plows have not done the neighborhood yet, so spots here and there are clear, but no long stretches of road. I saw the man in the car again. A few minutes later he was parked in the middle of the next street where he got out and began to shovel the middle of the road. I approached and asked where he lived. He lived probably 6 houses down, but couldn't get through anywhere because the plowing that was completed stopped short of giving him clear passage. I offered for him to park in our now clear driveway and walk home, which he seemed to appreciate, but he was determined to make it through with his shovel. He mentioned that he'd been up for 30 hours and needed to get some sleep before going back to work again. I again offered the driveway and headed home.
I walked back to my street where I saw another neighbor shoveling alone. The young woman said her mother couldn't help because she was in the house, sick. I told her we were all tired from doing our drive, but if she didn't need to go anywhere today, we'd come back and give her a hand later.
For the past few days, I've been anticipating the storm. I knew we needed to be prepared for the possibility of power outages and that we should have adequate food on hand for our family of 6. I knew that I should grade papers and do as much work as I could for my online English classes in case the power went out and I couldn't work.
We don't know what's next now that the storm has passed--can we make it to Mass? Can we make it to celebrate my niece's birthday tomorrow? I just don't know. Times like this remind me how little control I have in the grand scheme of things. God is in control.
Storms--both real and metaphorical--help us grow. Real storms remind us to take care of the important things, particularly our families and our neighbors. We get out of our snug, warm comfort zones and interact with the world when we'd rather hibernate until April. We face the challenge of shoveling 2 feet of snow and making a clear path from all exits of the house to make sure we can get out safely in an emergency. We face the stormy winds whipping the snow back in our faces and the aching muscles and cold skin. Then, we face it again when we realize our neighbor can't be safe unless we help her, too.
Nobody is excited about the work of cleaning up after the storm. But nobody seems to complain too much either. We just do what needs to get done. When summer rolls around, I will remember the cold New England days, talking to neighbors after storms when we rake roofs, shovel driveways, and muddle through together. Storms create deeper bonds than easy days.
I've been dreaming of gardening for the past few weeks. As I cleared a path from the back door of the kitchen to the back door of the garage, I realized it will be a while before I'm digging the earth and planting seeds. However, this snow is good. God created the seasons, and a good snowy winter may mean less of a drought this summer. We did talk of moving to Florida while we shoveled and how nice it would be to live somewhere warmer. But, of course, Florida has hurricanes which seem a lot harder to handle than snow. No region of the earth is perfect--we won't know perfection until we reach heaven.
God gives each of us our storms to weather. When we remember he is in charge and some of what we want will have to wait or change in order to make it through those storms, we become the people he wants us to be.
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