Snow

We get a lot of snow here in New England. Most winters are spent anticipating it, watching it fall, shoveling it and then waiting for more. Some years, it never quite melts before the next layer falls.

Some people romanticize snow. They yearn for a white Christmas and revel in the sight of the white stuff when it blankets the ground early on a winter morning. Kids, of course, pray for enough to create a "snow day" when they can spend the day sledding instead of listening to boring lessons at school.

I don't fall into either category. I'm not really partial to snow. For me, although it can at times be pretty, it's more about the time I have to spend out in the cold as I make sure a car can get into our driveway. Naturally, as soon as I get all of it scraped to the sides, the plows come by and leave a 2 foot pile at the end which has to again be shoveled away. So far this year, I haven't had to shovel snow much. We've had some snowfall, but also long periods of warmer weather which keeps the driveway clear and the streets dry. Last year, there were days when it was so cold that it hurt to breathe the air and shoveling snow was quite a chore.

For everyone who enjoys snow, I hope you get to dig through lots of it this winter. For me, it's my last winter in New England. Since I will soon be moving to a much warmer climate, I might in the future miss the pretty moments of a new snowfall, but I won't miss shoveling it, driving in it or slipping and sliding on the way to the mailbox.