I awoke this morning to the sound of the snow plow scraping along our street. I could picture the hard mound of snow it was depositing at the end of my driveway. I groaned and thought, I didn't even know it snowed last night. I snuggled deeper into my flannel sheets and tried to convince myself that it couldn't be more snow than I could just drive over. Then the snowplow's engines roared past again, this time followed by the firing up of my neighbor's snow blower.
Get up, Mama, I said to myself. Time to deal with winter.
I started by trying to wake my oldest son, 15, who groaned back at me, "I have a headache and my stomach is gurgly."
I might have answered, "What?! Are you sure?" Then, remembered that I was the mother. "Alright, I'll bring you some ibuprofen and some water."
I put on my winter wear and opened the garage door. The snow was driver-over-able, but the mound at the end of the driveway was thicker and needed attention, so I forged a path through the garage clutter and hauled out my snow blower.
Okay, you can do this. It took me a minute to remember where to plug it in for the electric starter, fill it with gas, press the primer button. Um was this lever supposed to be in the up position, or down? I tried up. It chugged. I tried again and, Yippy! It started. I cheered. (I don't think the neighbors heard me.) Then, set out on my windy walk up and down the driveway. The trick is in the position of the output spout. You don't want it to blow back onto your driveway. It isn't very neighborly to blow your snow onto your neighbor's driveway, and you don't want the spout to shoot out into the wind which will blow it all back into your face. It was a fairly mild morning, temps around zero, and wind chill a mere -6. So, I was fine, except for my hands. Next time I'll wear the boy's warm insulated gloves instead of my white knit gloves. Besides my fingers freezing, the white turned dirty and gray and now they smell gassy.
My "little boys" (9-year-old twins) came out to check on me, so I pulled my best "Tom Sawyer" and tried to make blowing snow look like the most fun you could have in Minnesota. They each took a turn up the driveway, and soon we were done.
I went in to enjoy my coffee and a little breakfast. My boys asked if I could drive them to school. I said, "Sure, after I eat. I'm hungry after that workout."
So, what started out as a grouchy, grumbly day with me slogging around thinking Why do I have to do everything turned into an exercise that showed me what I can do with a little gumption and energy, and I felt all the better for it. As Christopher Robin said to Winnie the Pooh, "You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
And, I close today with just enough energy left to type this blog. All the other blessed things I did during the hours in between will find their way into a blog later on this week. Hint: music, dancing, and memories.
Journaling/comment prompt: When have you felt empowered by doing something that you at first resisted?
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