Thursday, January 13, 2011

Shoveling Snow is Good For the Soul Amongst Other Things

I ALWAYS said that snow was nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live in it,
I didn't want to have to drive in it, or have to shovel it out of my driveway.

Ahem.

Famous Last Words.

Here I am, living what should be my own personal nightmare, and you know what?  I kinda like it.  My husband wants to buy a $500 snow thrower, and I'm thinking "We don't need to waste our money on that, just give me my shovel and go away".  I know it sounds totally bizarre, but I came to this realization while my mom was here visiting.  (Yeah, that's a whole other story).

I thought it would be nice to have her come and visit.  To see where we live.  To see that we can still be family even though I moved 2000 miles away.  That I hadn't abandoned her.  Seven days might have been a little ambitious considering our not too distant blow up.  We managed not to fight, but we also avoided speaking about anything of substance.
There was A LOT of tongue biting.

When it snowed, I had to go outside and shovel, and for the first time in DAYS, I had peace.  It was just me and my shovel, methodically removing the snow from the walks and the driveway.  I found myself lapsing into this meditative state where my mind was void of worry, I was just moving, just shoveling, without thinking.  It was the quietest my mind has been in ages.

Maybe this too will get old.  Maybe the newness will wear off and it will just become work like so many other household chores, but for now, I'm enjoying my private time with my snow shovel.

I also think that my rear might be residing a little higher than it was before all this physical labor.  Bonus!!

1 comments:

Jenny Grace said...

There can be something very comforting about mindless labor that you can throw yourself into. Makes sense.