Igloo

What a good friend.

I just read an article about the catastrophe of a winter it has been - a natural disaster of a winter.  I know large amounts of snow fall in other parts of the country, but I've never seen this many blizzards in a row here, piling inches on inches, and derailing so many of Boston's (not to mention it's neighboring regions) operations.  It's not as if we're not used to winters, but this one has been the one to top them all.  I've never felt so snowed in.  

Tonight, I got to see the mountains of salt being brought in by boat to Portsmouth.  The machines looked majestic in the lights from the street - piling salt on top of salt, ready for the streets.  Let's hope they don't need it all and that perhaps we've been through the worst of it.  Here's a poem to remind us of the beauty that Winter can be and that it will melt away one day... perhaps not soon... but one day... 

November

Mary Oliver

The snow

began slowly,

a soft and easy

sprinkling

of flakes, then clouds of flakes

in the baskets of the wind

and the branches

of the trees --

oh, so pretty.

We walked

through the growing stillness,

as the flakes

prickled the path,

then covered it,

then deepened

as in curds and drifts,

as the wind grew stronger,

shaping its work

less delicately,

taking greater steps

over the hills

and through the trees

until, finally,

we were cold, 

and far from home.

We turned

and followed our long shadows back

to the house.

stamped our feet,

went inside, and shut the door.

Through the window

we could see

how far away it was to the gates of April.

Let the fire now

put on its red hat

and sing to us.

Boom Clap

"Boom Clap - the sound of my heart, the beat goes on and on..."

Can't get enough of those two.  Maybe it's because I just got back from Nashville, maybe it's because I love their music echoing through the rooms in our apartment.  We need it in our little igloo.

I took the bus for the first time today, from UNH to Portsmouth.  My car is currently lodged safely in the driveway, away from those nasty roads.  One of my friends from Montana, told me that she probably has the opposite problem that I do.  She wants life to go on despite the snow whereas I'm terrified to drive my car through it.  And yes, I think, "No one should be out on these roads!  Why are things open??"

There's just so much snow.  I'd be okay with it melting - if this was the end of the storms.  Even though it's comical - I crack up probably because I'm actually cracking up... as in, going crazy.  I walked into our living room the other day to laugh outloud at that the snow that had crept up just a little bit more, covering 75% of our windows.  Last night, the plow guy shoved his plow right into our house, after another "Plow Guy Session" where we get the warning, stumble out of our apartment, and all work like little snow bunnies to unburrow our cars out of the driveway.  Last night, it was at 10 pm, during hanging-out-in-the-kitchen wine time.  C'mon now.

We become more like our indoor cat each day, cooky little soul that she is.  Soon, we'll all just be staring at the basement door - just like her - and burrowing on random spots on the floor, playing with candy wrappers and darting up and down the stairs.  I kind of want to toss her in the snow.  I kind of want to toss myself in the snow.

Not only has our household gotten hit with snow, but also with tragedy - the loss of my friend's (fellow apartment dweller/cat owner) brother to the hands of a heroin addiction.  The terribly strong hands of that addiction.  Not only has the igloo that we now live in brought us together, but also this incredible loss - putting our snow troubles into perspective.  The white powder out there really isn't that bad, on the grand scale of things.  We're all together and we're here - making mulled wine, filing out for the plow guy, freezing in the road as we pray we'll get out cars back in the driveway.  I asked another apartment-mate to bring home some sunshine and she brought home cinnamon roll dough.  Perfect.

Since Sam Smith had just swept the Grammy's, I felt I had to listen to his record.  I think it'll always remind me of these days, since it's been playing on repeat, along with that Boom Clap.

And it's with all of these things that we'll keep moving, spinning our tires, but with a little push from one another - we'll help each other through.

"C'mon to me c'mon to me now...."