Yesterday it snowed, and snowed, and snowed… and then it snowed some more. OK, maybe I’m exaggerating just a little – we only got around 15 centimetres (6 inches) of the white stuff here in Windsor – but I do believe this is the most I’ve seen at one time since we moved here just over a year ago, so it seems like a lot to me! (FYI, yesterday’s “Wordless Wednesday” photo – our back yard mascot, a concrete chimp – was taken partway through the snow dump. Poor guy looks a little chilly!)
Because Peter is using a walker to hobble about on one leg, yours truly had the honour of snow-shoveling duty. Do you know, this could well be the very first time I’ve had to take care of this task? Since we’ve been together it’s always been his job, and prior to that, most of my time on my own was spent in apartments or condos, so the shoveling was always dealt with by the building management.
But this time it fell on my shoulders, and I did it… I got out there around 10:00 last night and cleared off the front porch and steps, our walkway, and the stretch of sidewalk running along the front of our place. I even carried on and did the sidewalk in front of our neighbour’s place as a small “thank you” for the times he mowed our front lawn this past summer.
It wasn’t a huge job by any stretch – we’re on a narrow city lot, after all, and don’t even have a driveway – but for someone in terrible shape who gets little to no exercise these days (that would be ME), it’s big enough! By the time I’d finished I was completely winded.
Winded, yet at the same time, strangely exhilarated.
This simple little accomplishment – getting up and out, taking care of my home, and being a good neighbour – left me with a lasting feeling of pride and satisfaction. (I know it’s silly, but I keep going to the window to sneak a peek at my nice, clean, clear front walkway, and each time I think, “I did that!”)
For me, this fall has definitely been – and continues to be as we move into winter and a new year – a time of learning and growth. I’ve been put in a position where I was – and am – fully responsible for taking care of things that I’d never done before, things I thought I’d never have to do, and things I simply wasn’t used to doing myself… all in addition to the rest of the “things” I normally do every day.
And I did them. And I keep doing them. And they haven’t killed me yet!
Still, I’m kind of hoping it doesn’t snow anymore. And I’m counting the days until Peter is up and around again. I’m pretty much ready to put the learning and growth on the back burner… just for a time.
Roll on, 2013!