After Saturday’s storm the sidewalk in front of my small city space disappeared. Boot tracks pocked the deep snow and the snowbank at the corner had to be climbed over with great care. I had a young man offer me his hand the other day to assist me but I declined thinking myself still agile enough to make it over on my own. About an hour ago the sidewalk snow blower plow apparatus came by creating it’s flurry of snow and loud aggressive attack on the snow packed sidewalk. So we have a sidewalk again until the next storm. The snowbanks are now so high out my front windows I can’t see the street or the first floor of the building across the street. This morning I read back my January journal entries for 2015 which was another heavy snowfall winter. I remember it well and recall the challenges that winter brought. But we got through it. I laid awake last night listening to the big trucks removing snow from the street. I wondered if our sidewalk would be cleaned during the night. I finally fell asleep and looking out first thing realized it was still plugged solid. Sitting with my morning coffee I saw some snow flying and heard the noise of the machine coming closer and knew this was the day this particular block would have it’s sidewalk cleared. Not sure exactly what the wisdom this observation holds except to realize that each problem brings it’s challenges, it’s victories, it’s lessons in patience and fortitude , it’s time to be tackled and it’s degree of success. Each problem has it’s blessings too but sometimes we don’t see those until long after the problem has been forgotten or we’ve moved on to fret about something else. I hope to get outside later and walk the cleared sidewalks of the city blocks around me. But right now I will get to work enjoying the pedestrian traffic which can again walk by my window on the rediscovered sidewalk.
