For once I must say I’m grateful that I’m missing one of the largest snowstorms in the history of the New England area.
Currently several states away and out of the storms reach, I have been watching the news report on how the snow has impacted everything so far. All the states in the region have declared emergencies, power is out for hundreds of thousands of people, a mandatory order has been made to stay off the roads, and people are doing their best to occupy themselves in their homes while the snow drops up to five inches per hour in some places.
My home currently resides in Weymouth, MA where the expected snowfall total will be between 2 and 3 feet once the storm is completely over. I’ve already spoken to my roommate several times and he continues to remove vast amounts of snow from the driveway hourly.
Growing up in Poughkeepsie, New York, I have seen my share of pretty incredible snowstorms. One of my earliest childhood memories is of the snow being so deep that I was able to build a tunnel system throughout the front yard. When I went to college upstate many years later in Rochester, snow was a daily occurrence from late October to late April. Seeing snow on the ground and even watching storms drop several feet of snow over the course of several days didn’t really phase anyone. But there was one storm that I remember so vividly. Over the course of 24 hours, several feet of snow dropped onto the northern city just like the one happening right now in the New England area. Rochester normally being prepared for any level of snow couldn’t keep up with the rate of descent, and everything shut down for about a day after, including my college which hadn’t cancelled classes on any given day for more than several decades. I spent the evening having a party and the next day swimming at the local hotel’s pool on campus nearby.
In 1995, I decided to leave the north and move to warmer climates and less volatile winters. I lived in Fairfax, VA which was a city just outside of Washington, DC. Ironically, in my first winter there, an unprecedented snowstorm hit that paralyzed the city and closed down the government and all corporations for just about three days. Funny enough, I had just come back from a college visit to Rochester. Go figure.
Since living in the New England area, there were a few storms here and there that were bothersome but nothing that prevented me from going anywhere. Two years ago in the winter of 2010, 82 inches of snow dropped throughout the season reminding me of my college years when that was the norm.
So I have to chuckle in that here I sit with temperatures above freezing, on a completely dry driveway with no snow in the forecast. For once I’m grateful to be nowhere’s near a storm like that. While I find the snow mesmerizing and tranquil, I’m happy to say that I won’t be straining my back shoveling it this time and I pray for all those that will.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson