Tired
by Rob

I'll admit, when schools were closing this morning, I thought that we were just getting lucky. Even though at this point, I still feel lucky that we didn't go to school today, I have a very different perspective.

I'm tired.

I wasn't surprised to hear the front door slamming this morning at 7:30. I was still in bed. The kids were already suited up in their snow gear and headed outside to play. It was great to think about them starting their day with such excitement.

This morning looked completely different than yesterday. Blue sky. Sunshine. Blinding white snow everywhere. As I stood in the kitchen making breakfast, I felt lucky to have the whole day ahead of us. I figured that we'd play outside. Perhaps we'd spend some time playing the Wii in the basement. Perhaps we'd watch another episode of "Alias." Well, the kid's got to play outside, but that's about the only part of my early notion that came to be.

I didn't head outside to clean up until about 11:30. Actually, that was the time that I walked the kids down to the neighbor's house so they could slide on their hill and play with friends. I knew that once I dropped them off, I'd come back and finish clearing out the driveway and then get our cars dug out.

When I got to the neighbor's house I could see that they were much farther behind than we were. Kim, the mom, was outside trying to dig their van out. The driveway hadn't been touched. Their driveway is several times larger than ours. And the worst part of it was the entrance from the road. The plows had left a packed heap of snow about 5 feet high and 10 feet wide. Jim, Kim's husband, has been away on business all week and she's been fending for herself. I told Kim that I'd be back to help, just as soon as I finished up at our house. It sounded simple enough to me.

I can't believe I misjudged so badly. It took me two hours to finish at our house.

I decided to head back to Kim and Jim's right away. Nothing had changed in the two hours. Kim told me that her neighbors from across the street had noticed her situation and called to say that they'd be over with a snow thrower once they had finished working at their rental properties.

I started working on the plug. I figured at the very least I'd be able to find the reflector markers that indicate the boundaries of the opening. Within a few minutes, the lady from across the street came over to say that I was welcome to use another thrower that was sitting at their house. I was able to get it started and she worked with me, giving me directions to clear through the plug. In awhile, her husband came home. The thrower that he had been using at the rental had died and he needed to take this one back to his other work site. He said that he'd come back later to help Kim finish up.

So I picked up my shovel and kept working on the plug. In a fairly short time, I had it completely open. Then I helped Kim to clear out some more of the drive so that she could move her van. I announced to Abbie and Nate that we'd be heading home soon. When we got home, it was 4:00 PM.

At that point I felt lucky that we'd had the day off, but for very different reasons.

Dinner was pizza. It sounded good to me, but it was also the only meal that I felt I could prepare -- meaning, I knew the phone number. When I headed out to pick it up it was about 5:00. Much to my surprise the driving wasn't very good at all. I thought that the roads would be well treated and cleared, and for the most part, they looked okay, but there were several patches of snow and ice and the CRV didn't handle them particularly well. It's strange, powdery snow. Now I was really glad that we hadn't had to drive anywhere today.

At this point, we're watching "Survivor" and laying low. The kids will head to bed in about half an hour. I think I'll be right behind them. I think that we'll all sleep well tonight. We're all tired.