Snowpocalypse!

Our driveway four days later

On Wednesday of last week, we got a bit of snow. In fact, more snow for the date than we had ever before received here in Bellingham and surrounding towns. We don't do well driving in snow, since we rarely have any. But this was more than scary: after all that exceptionally cold weather, the ground was frozen, and eight or more inches of snow fell all during the day and into the night. By midday, the bus authority stopped all buses, with several stuck in snowdrifts. It's been more than thirty years since we lost bus service throughout town, but they really had no choice. Anybody who had come to town that morning could get a ride home through the WTA website, and apparently hundreds did just that. I had taken the bus to the coffee shop that morning, but I headed home before the buses stopped running. The next morning, Thursday, bus schedules were back to normal, with buses using chains.

And on Friday, I didn't go to the coffee shop because, although it had warmed up above freezing, we had an event that anybody who drives knows to avoid: freezing rain. Friday morning my front porch steps had a half-inch of ice and driving anywhere was beyond my ability. Fortunately, it warmed up considerably by noon, and I was able to careen down the driveway to plowed and navigable streets. Unfortunately, I had to come back, and I couldn't use any downward momentum to help me, so I got stuck in the slush and ice and snow. At least I was almost home. 

After much soul searching and getting help from SG (and our neighbors), we were able to get my car into a relatively safe place, and I once again gave up on trying to get any exercise at all for a few days. At least I have a safe and warm place to hang out until I can drive on actual pavement once again. On Friday, the Senior Center opened up again after being closed for two days, two hours late, but still. I didn't try to get there. 

Yesterday, Saturday, John came and picked me up in his big truck that has 4WD, to take me to the coffee shop. Obviously there would be no walk, however, since where would I go that was safe? That coffee sure tasted good, though. I miss my routine, but I will cope with this however I can. I'll survive, for awhile at least.

[Sorry for font size, I can't seem to fix it.]

I am not yet willing to give up on my exercise, just because of a little white slippery stuff on all the available surfaces. However, for the time being, I am staying away from any attempt at driving in that slush. I think just walking to the bus tomorrow morning will be exercise enough. I just need to be patient.

Life is not so easy sometimes, and especially when I allow myself to get pulled into all the drama and problems of the world. You'd think I have enough to worry about in my own life that I wouldn't want to take on the weight of the world, but I continue to forget that and fall into worry and sadness about where we are right now. I know I am not alone in this. But it really, truly doesn't help anything to get better to worry about it. So the right thing to do is to raise my eyes from the horizon and take a nice full body stretch, and start over.

I have plenty of ways to feel gratitude, and I need to put those front and center to keep myself from falling into the darkness. Remembering how many people around me are available to help, if I just ask, is an essential element in moving toward the light. It is really amazing how different things look when I change my mind about how to see the world around me. I have no reason to be unhappy: I have a roof over my head, warmth inside it, a dear partner who loves me and I love him, and enough monthly income to pay the bills, even if I will never be rich. Who needs that? With my trusty laptop connected to the wide world, I have infinite opportunities to explore.

And I know without doubt that whatever I might be experiencing right now, it will pass. Everything does, and change is inevitable. When I think of all the various stages of life I have already passed through, why in the world would I think that this snowy and slippery landscape is all there is? It embarrasses me a little to think of how easy it is to forget all my wonderful and precious fellow beings who travel this path with me. Mary Oliver says it perfectly with this quote:

To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go. —Mary Oliver

This is true no matter what life throws at us, or what life takes away from us. We just need to remember that we are not alone, we are surrounded by others who love us, who wish only the best for us, and for whom we wish only the best of life's bounty. 

Taking it one day at a time

I find myself once again apologizing to my readers for a post that is not uplifting but filled with angst. Unfortunately, it's all that I seem to be feeling these days, as I make my way back to wholeness. It seems that the theme of my life these days is learning how to let it go, let it go. 

And with that, I will wrap up this post and think about how to have a more uplifting and better post next Sunday. My love for you is undiminished, and I will give it another try next week. Until then, I wish only the best for you and hope that all good things come your way.