Shoveling Snow

I went outside this morning to sweep the snow that had fallen during the night off of my mom's front porch so no unsuspecting visitors would slip on the ice that was hidden beneath it and injure themselves. While I was out there, I noticed that the senior citizens across the street were out shoveling their driveways. I decided if they could be that ambitious I should probably be shoveling too so I got the shovel and went to work. There was probably about 3 or 4 inches of new snow on the driveway and that came off quite easily. The old snow underneath, that cars had driven back and forth on, was a little harder to get up but I got most of it. As I was shoveling I was thinking that I should probably shovel the neighbor's driveway too. The couple that lives there both have had major surgeries recently and probably can't do it themselves. Then I looked down the street and each house I could see is occupied by an older person or couple who probably could use my help. I could shovel all day and still not reach everyone who could use my assistance. I decided my contribution would be to shovel the sidewalk and area around the mailboxes so that all the people could safely collect their mail. I know it wasn't much, but it was something. I was happy for all the neighbors later on in the day when the sun came out and most of the snow melted off of all their driveways. However I was kind of sad that I had worked that hard for nothing. Oh well, I don't get the opportunity to shovel snow that often and it was probably good for me.

Even though I grew up in Utah I don't remember shoveling snow very often. I have 2 older brothers and I think they probably pulled snow shoveling duty a lot, along with my dad. Sometimes it's nice to be a girl.

My most vivid snow shoveling memory occurred after I was married. Our family lived in Orem. My hubby had been unemployed for a few months and was offered a job in Arizona working for his tribe. He went to Arizona to start work the middle of January and I stayed in Utah, with our 3 children, to sell the house. As luck would have it we had some major snowstorms while he was gone (which was about a month, but seemed a lot longer) and I spent quite a bit of time shoveling the driveway so prospective buyers could come and look at our house. We lived on a very busy street, so the kids had to stay in the house while I worked. The girls were 4 and 6 months and my son was not quite 3. I usually waited until the baby was asleep and the other 2 were good to entertain themselves or watch me out the window. One day however after I had been shoveling for a while my daughter opened the front door and yelled for help. I hurried inside to find my son sitting on the floor with a set of keys in his hand, his very black hand. It took me a minute to figure out what had happened but I soon spied the electrical outlet in the nearby wall was also black. The son had stuck the keys in the outlet and received quite the shock apparently. I quickly washed his had off and although it was a tiny bit red he didn't seem to be burned. He was lucky that he wasn't really hurt. He has always remembered this experience and is still cautious around plugs to this day.

Today I am thankful for

a warm house to go into after I have been shoveling snow.
no line at the post office.
arms.