Of Snow Days by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

Last Wednesday, I jokingly sent Konnie a text asking if either Royce or Tony could come over and shovel my driveway because I was snowed in. She not only pointed out that it was a ten-hour drive but that her adult sons have never had to shovel snow in their life!

It’s not like they haven’t lived where there is snow. Both boys were born in Utah, however, aside from the first couple of years of Tony’s life, they have always lived in Oregon or Vegas. They haven’t had to deal with snow annually.

Which seems really weird since their mother grew up right here, in Idaho.

Konnie prefers staying in Vegas. I don’t mind living here, except when I get snowed in. The thing is, with my SUV riding so high and being all-wheel drive, I’ve been snowed in a total of one time – last Wednesday.

Had I still owned my Cavalier I’d be snowed in a lot more often because I honestly was snowed in three or four times a winter with that little car. With my steep driveway, and how low it rode, it didn’t take much to make it impossible to get out of my driveway.

And during that period when I was without transportation of my own, I had one friend get stuck in my driveway when she came to pick me up. We eventually had to call another friend to pull her out of my driveway. Not a fun evening.

Then I bought my SUV, and I was hoping I’d never be snowed in again. I clearly didn’t get my wish. Though I might point out that the big storm was actually on Monday night. And I was able to get out and back again on Tuesday, despite the snow being a good two feet deep. I mean if I still had my Cavelier, I’d have been snowed in for sure, since I got snowed in when it was only six inches deep back then.

So come Wednesday morning, with no new snow falling the night before, I figured I’d have no problem again. Boy was I wrong. My neighbor shoveled the walkway onto my driveway.

I had to call my friend who lives a few blocks away to see if one of her boys or her husband could dig me out. She homeschools and her baby is a rather tall teenager, so they came over and dug me out. I assume all her adult sons and husband were already at work for the day. She has more sons than Konnie has kids, so she’s a good choice to call for help.

But all this got me thinking about how Konnie prefers living where it rarely snows, and I’d rather live with six to eight months a year of snow than live in excessive heat. Ergo why I refuse to visit Konnie for our birthday. I told her, if she wants to see me in the middle of summer, she’s coming to Idaho, I am not going to Vegas, period.

I’m fine with going to Vegas for Christmas.

Actually, it’s quite fun watching people all bundled up in parkas and shivering because of how cold it is outside, and I’m there borrowing Konnie’s windbreaker because my winter coat is way too heavy for 50-degree weather!

And let’s face it, if you think 50 is freezing, you don’t know freezing! I promise.

And I have lived in warmer climates. I remember when our ride to class one morning back in Tacoma told us we were lucky they had an SUV, or they wouldn’t have been able to get out of their nice flat driveway over something like three inches of snow that all melted by noon.

Or the time I lived in Norfolk, Virginia and they closed the schools because of the “big storm” which hit the night before. I have a picture from that day – you can see the grass speckled with white dots. In Idaho that’s called a skiff of snow, nobody closes for a skiff.

Of course, there was also the time I was in the Exchange food court when I noticed tiny flakes melting into the flowerbed outside the window and figured it was nothing to worry about. A few minutes later a guy sent his chair crashing to the floor as he jumped up and announced, “It’s snowing!”

Within seconds, I was the only customer in the food court.

A worker came over and asked me, “Aren’t you going to leave?”

I glanced at the congestion now in the parking lot and said, “The roads will be clear in about 20 minutes.”

I lived a 20-minute drive away. The roads were clear of snow, and cars!

Happy writing everyone!