Snowstorms and shovels
February 10, 2010
I teased my colleague Kathy this morning that, with that adorable little 3 year old she brought back from Russia, she also brough unending WINTER!
Not since New Years weekend of 1996 do I remember getting snowed in for so long…and with so many house guests on top of our 4 roomies. The mid 90s were the days of our 20s! When that snowstorm hit, it was my first year of DC group house single living – My BFF Missie and I, who had just moved to DC from Lancaster, our high school buddy T (who, since moving on to LA is now “Shad”), his girlfriend (announced to us on move-in day) Wendy, all of us living in a McLean couple’s home for a few years while they were overseas.
On that fateful holiday, trapped with us for days, given the icy blast and the trecherous road conditions, were Jere, Hoyt, and Jim and Kate….all faithful friends from PA who had not planned to stay all week in Virginia. I don’t remember how much we shoveled that weekend. I do remember pasta dinners and drinking games, scrabble challenges, movies and phone calls to see if the PA roads had opened. I remember us getting sick of each other too (“How the heck can Jere sleep til noon?!”). Nevertheless, the weekend was etched in our minds. And, still friends, as we gathered over this past Christmas holiday to catch up, we recounted that 96 blizzard with the whitewashed sort of fondness that time brings.
Today, our blizzard day lives are quite different. In our household, we wake to snow at 6 AM, not 10. Usually the first words out of the mouths of babes are ”Mama, are we going to school today?” Followed by long hugs, wishes for cereal (or chicken nuggets) for breakfast, and then the making of a to-do list for the day. There are snow day playdates, attempts at helping Daddy shovel, and slides down the driveway…
For me, there’s a little more time to read.. especially the work of two columnists writing about men and shoveling “it” — from different perspectives….
Ruth Marcus, continuing her unique view (which I”ve agreed with before) on the heroine Jenny Sanford, in light of Jenny’s book. She rightly lambasts Mr. Sanford as a cad (putting it nicely), and blasts Jenny for sticking around as long as she did. There is a lot hereto ponder on a cold snowy day, given what we want to believe about “til death do us part” and redeption. Whether you’re Hillary Clinton, Jenny Sanford or Elizabeth Edwards, the path you must follow is probably not framed in Vegas lights.
On a lighter note, Kathleen Parker has a refreshing and interesting take on men, why we want them, and how the shovels of 2010 have unearthed many innate desires to demonstrate worth.
Happy snow and happy reading!