A recent college grad on a mission to face the unknown…one step at a time
Sometimes, when I feel overwhelmed I like to clean. It’s nice to know I still have control over something, and it helps me think clearer when everything is orderly. My Type A side enjoys it quite a bit, too.
I forgot, however that when you’re deep cleaning, things tend to get messier first and the mess tends to travel. Although under my bed is organized and pretty, the rest of my formerly neat (if not spotless) room looks like a disaster area.
I guess mental clarity will have to wait.
Woke up at five this morning to my mom telling me to come look outside.
“Mmmm, pretty,” I said drowsily, looking out at the snow-covered scene. It was dark and silent; most of the neighborhood was still sleeping and for the moment ignorant of the blizzard that would greet them when they woke. From the warmth of the house, it was a beautiful sight. Every surface was blanketed with white, like a child’s gingerbread house with gobs of icing covering EVERYTHING. And yet, it was still delicate in its own way. After looking for a while, I went back to bed.
The beauty was short-lived as I was woken up by my brother a few hours later. Several trees had snapped from the weight of the snow, and a branch from one was perched precariously on a power line between our house and our neighbor’s house. It was supposed to start getting really cold around nine, too so we had to clear as much snow away as we could before it froze.
I stumbled out of bed, threw on some warm clothes, and ventured outside. Some people came by to take care of the branch, and we spent a good part of the morning snow blowing and shoveling what seemed like endless amounts of snow and fighting what felt like a fruitless battle. It seemed as soon as we cleared some snow away, more would magically appear. When we finally stopped, my arms were aching, my clothes were soaked, and I found myself cursing anything and everything and regretting all the times I’d slacked on doing upper body strength training.
I spent the rest of the day watching the Food Network (power came back on) and flipping through magazines. Everything in the area was closed or canceled so everybody was home, which is kind of a rare occurrence. Verdict is still out on whether we’ll be snowed in again tomorrow.
