The Snow-Shoveling Goddess

Today I awoke to a beautiful white blanket of snow. Ah, a perfect lazy Sunday to stay in my pajamas and lounge around in the comfort of my warm home. Unfortunately, it then dawned on me that there was a considerable “to do list” lingering, and it needed to be completed before my girls were returned to me at 6 pm. At some point, it would be necessary to venture out into the arctic and drive to the dreaded grocery store, or I could stay in my pjs a little longer and clean my bathroom. Hmmm. Suddenly, getting dressed and heading out into the frigid world didn’t seem like such a bad option. Then, the inevitable question had arisen… to shovel, or not to shovel? Now for a Goddess, born and raised in California, shoveling snow is definitely not my forte. I escaped shoveling after the last snow storm, with warm temperatures melting everything the next day. I wasn’t so sure that luck would be on my side this time around. I made myself a bowl of oatmeal and a latte and checked the temperature; a balmy negative two, with highs reaching six degrees! Yikes, no chance of the snow melting anytime soon. Since I didn’t have my 4-wheel drive for the weekend, I knew what had to be done.

I sat in my warm kitchen sipping my latte, procrastinating a little longer, and admired the neighbors across the street clearing their driveway. They were like a well-oiled machine. How could this 60 year old couple move so fast and shovel with such precision? They were done in minutes. Then I looked next to their house and further down the street. All the houses in my sight had cleared driveways. Who were these people? Are they nuts? It wasn’t even 9 o’clock yet!

Well, on with it. This was one of those newly single-mom responsibilities that just had to get done, because no one else was going to do it but me. I reluctantly bundled up and opened my garage. Maybe someone would see me flailing awkwardly with my shovel, take pity, come to my rescue, and help finish the job. As I touched the shovel to the ground, I looked around, but alas, no knights in shining armor, or even other goddesses were in sight. I sighed, and clumsily pushed through the first pass. Much to my delight, I realized the snow was surprisingly light. By the next pass I became so warm that I didn’t even notice the sub-freezing temperatures. Although, I probably looked uncoordinated, and worked twice as slow as the native Coloradans, I did find some enjoyment in the process. I even ventured over to shovel my next-door neighbor’s sidewalk.

There is something so peaceful on a cold, snowy morning, when you are the only one outside. I took a deep breath of the frosty air and admired what I had accomplished. I appreciated how fortunate I was to have a driveway and sidewalks to shovel, and more importantly realized that this was yet one more thing that I could do on my own. When you are living on your own for the first time in years, there is always this nagging fear that you won’t be able to handle everything by yourself. And yes, even something as simple as shoveling snow can seem pretty daunting to a California girl. But, it just became one more thing to check off of my single-mom list, of “yeah, it’s no problem. Got it covered.”