Snow!

I was looking forward to a gorgeous heavy snowfall.  I may be in the minority but it is beautiful to watch, 

especially when it happens in the evening viewing from the warmth of home out the clear sliding glass doors.  

Add a crackling fire, a glass of red wine and a slice of homemade pizza and that sounds pretty good to me.

I like shoveling a clear path once the snow has finished falling and it's time to venture out. There's something gratifying about clearing the driveway, it's a good workout.  I'm a bit of a nut about edging the sides as well as making sure every bit is off the pavement.  I know it really doesn't matter in the scheme of things because the sun melts the missed lines (at least at my house) but I find it incomplete if I don't remove it all… a bit of OCD perhaps?

I remember many times asking Chris to shovel.  He didn't usually give me any grief about it but I can say he never raced right out either.  What kid does?  It took a few reminders sometimes.  I have been known to wake him on a school snow day, even if he was able to sleep in, because I still had to go to work and the driveway needed attention.  Hey, too bad, he could always go back to bed (which he did) while I had to go in to work as usual.  I felt a little bad... but not bad enough to do it myself or drive over it, I still woke him up! Teamwork...

I used to crack up at his method of shoveling.  It didn't seem to me to be well thought out... but then again neither was his lawn mowing.  He didn't seem to have a pattern or a rhyme or reason to how he shoveled.  I happen to make one straight path down the length of the driveway and then row by row start pushing it to one side.  Isn't that the correct way?  Chris seemed to weave.  Wherever the shovel plowed along was the right spot for him.  Oh and by the way, picking up the shovel was done as little as possible... push 90%, lift and toss 10%.  

To do it like Chris you must also go out to shovel completely inappropriately dressed... sneakers untied, sockless, wearing shorts, a hoodie and ear buds hanging from your ears. An iPod is a must for any outdoor maintenance activity, regardless of the season. The hood could be up or down depending on the temperature and wind... Can you picture him lobbing along pushing a path of snow up and down the driveway?  Hmmmm, eventually it got done. I used to hide in the upstairs window and watch giggling at the knucklehead, priceless memories.  I'm glad I never let on that I found his technique very funny.  I'm just glad he took care of it.

Many times the two of us would be outside shoveling together.  Typically I'd negotiate a plan with him... you do the end of the driveway and I'll start up by the door and we'll meet in the middle.  Seemed fair enough to me, he's stronger so he gets the tougher part where the plow stacked it up.  There were times he'd stand there sizing up the snow pile, analyzing it. Why?  I don't know.  The plow left the same path down the street each time and the end of the driveway didn't change too much with each snowfall.  But he'd sometimes stand there as if he never saw it before and he'd try to figure out how best to handle it.  The tough part about the end of the driveway is the weight... can't do just 10% tossing there (I'm no dummy.)  Let's just say he got a good workout. :-) I would smile as I cleared my rows watching him push, lift, toss, repeat.

I missed him yesterday, a lot.  I know there wasn't much snow in Clifton Park but there was enough to shovel. This was not the drive over it and keep going level... it needed my attention.  I hated that the second shovel went unused.  It just stood there against the garage wall.  I didn't like that at all.  I don't like that.  I miss Chris every day and snow shoveling is a new thing I miss about him.  I don't want a new thing to miss, I already miss him enough.  

So, I shoveled and talked to him and smiled at the memories.   I told him I wished he was here and I was thinking of him.  I felt confident he heard me and was out there with me analyzing the end of the driveway again.  I know he would never leave me to shovel the snow banks alone.  Love you Squirt!

Thank you for reading.