All week the weather channels were calling for a winter storm. It started off as a winter weather warning and quickly escalated to a blizzard warning.
The kids were excited. Heck, I was excited. After 60 degrees on Christmas, the whole family was ready for winter storm Jonas to drop a foot or two of snow smack dab on top of us.
Boy did we get our wish….and then some! After two days of near constant snow and 40 MPH wind we received a grand total of 31 inches of heavy, wet, snow. It was a winter dream!
I woke up on Sunday morning to a beautiful blue sky. It was near silence with the exception of a few birds chirping nosily in the trees as they worked to clear the snow from their nests. As I sat sipping my morning coffee, watching the deer in my backyard struggle through the snow, I got more and more excited. I woke the children and in a flurry made breakfast and dressed them in their warm snowsuits.
Slowly, the rest of the neighborhood started to stir. As the kids were building snow forts, I started to shovel my car out of it’s wintry tomb. After almost two hours (and 30 feet of driveway) I stepped back to admire my handiwork. There is a satisfaction that comes with working so hard and being able to see the fruit of your labor.
I surveyed the rest of the neighborhood. Many of my neighbors were already out starting the task of digging themselves out. I grabbed my shovel and headed next door where an older woman lives alone, to shovel her driveway. After a while others started to join in. We cleared her driveway in about 30 minutes.
Next up… the neighbor down the street who was not home; imagine his surprise when he gets home and can get into his driveway, which we cleared for him in no time.
We went like this down the street, house after house. Sure it was hard work, but the scene of community was incredible. With all of us working together, we made short (and fun) work of what would be a daunting task for one person to do alone. This right here is what is missing from our everyday society. This sense of community is what I will strive to teach my children so that they can grow up in a world where you can count on your neighbors.
What did you do during the snow storm?
Lancaster Doulas LLC offers services in 10 Counties in Central PA: Adams, Berks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Montgomery, Schuykill and York