The Falling Snow

     One of the nice things about being retired is that you don't have to worry about driving when it snows, unless you have doctor appointments.  Now, as far as I'm concerned, we've already had enough snow for this season.  But, unfortunately, I imagine we will get much more. Is this the result of global warming?  I have enjoyed sitting on our enclosed porch, with the fire burning, watching the snow fall. And the resulting scenes have been spectacular.  Now if there was only a way to keep the snow on the grass for a few months, but not on the roads and sidewalks.
         Now when I was working, quite often I didn't have to go to work when it snowed because we had snow days.  But generally I didn't really appreciate them because we would have to make them all up.  There was nothing like them actually being a free day.  I would spend much of that day shoveling snow or using my snow blower and I would realize that snow day was now really my long weekend, or my Easter vacation, or my summer vacation.  And I would have rather had those days to enjoy when the weather was nice.  Now I did like late starts or early dismissals because those days did not need to be made up.
           There are a few snowstorms in my lifetime that I still recall.  Back in 1957 we had a 20 inch surprise storm late in March.  A friend and I were with our music teacher attending a District Chorus concert in Harrisburg.  When the concert was over we found the snow had started and the drive back to Lititz was memorable.  Several times we had to get out to push other cars, as well as to push the one we were riding in. They didn't have the large snowplows then. Somehow the Lord got us safely home, even though many places you could no longer even see where the road was.  The storm was so bad that they couldn't even get food supplies into Lititz for several days.  I took pictures of snow drifts that reached almost to the top of the telephone poles on Lititz Pike.
          Eighteen years ago we had a series of major snow storms.  The snow along our driveway was piled up so high that I could barely see over it.  It was especially memorable because my daughter-in-law was pregnant and we were concerned about how she would get to the hospital.  But once again, the Lord took care of that and she was able to get there safely.  We had the new baby's brother staying with us and we decided to try to get to the hospital so he could see his new sister.  The ride was very difficult and when we arrived the nurses were all surprised that we were there because Lancaster had been closed to all traffic because conditions were so bad.  I guess we broke the law and didn't know it.  So we made a quick visit and made our way home.  I always thought that because of that snow they should have named her "Storm".
        Another storm, sometime in the 60's, began on Christmas Eve.  I had been in the hospital and they released me that night for Christmas.  We had planned to go to Sunbury for Christmas but I wasn't able to drive.  So Dianne drove with the kids in the back seat and with me terribly sick in the front seat. It was a memorable ride. When, a few days later, it was time to return home, Dianne still had to drive for me. But my brother-in-law and Dianne's sister followed us back to Millersville just in case she encountered trouble.  When we got to our street we found that my brother and my father had dug a path up the street to our house so that we could get home.  And thanks to their help we were able to get home safely.  One thing that has changed in a half century is that the township is now much better at removing the snow and keeping the roads open - at least most of the time.
         In another storm our boys had their pictures on the front page of the Lancaster Newspapers with the tunnels they had built in the deep snow.  Then there was the time that I drove a van of cheerleaders home from a competition in an ice storm.  And I can't forget the Christmas that we were snowed in only to get a call from my father-in-law telling us that he and his new bride were having a fight.  Then there were the nights of family sledding on the hill in the field behind us. That field is now all filled with homes.  I guess snow does provide many memories, some good and some bad. 
          But now that I am much older I don't need snow memories anymore.  Despite having a snow blower, it has become much more difficult now to deal with the snow.  It's hard to admit that, but it is the result of getting much older with increasing physical limitations. Somehow it seems like our driveway has gotten bigger and our sidewalks longer.  I guess we all feel that we will never reach that point, but when we do, you just do the best that you can with a problem that you can't avoid. Of course, I guess one can always avoid it by moving to Florida and then all you have to worry about are the hurricanes.  And they really aren't as spectacular to watch as the newly fallen snow. And who wants a hot, green Christmas.  Actually, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ... with the snow just on the grass ...  hanging on the trees ... reflecting the Christmas lights ... and a cup of hot chocolate ... sitting in front of a blazing fire ... listening to Christmas music ... watching the snow quietly fall.