Monday, March 2, 2009

Get ready to consume the coffee... then the day.

It is 3:34 a.m. I am jolted awake by a smell. It seemed so real... a smell of gasoline. I shook my head violently to get away from it, even in my sleep. Of course, now I was no longer asleep. I lifted my head to get a better smell. Wasn’t sure if I needed to get up and wake the sleeping household... but the smell went away.

My father immediately came to mind. Was this you? Did you come for a visit in my dreams? The stink of gas, or any other car fluids, was synonymous with my Dad. I made a lame attempt at going back to sleep.

As I laid there, I realized it snowed. Not because of the message the school left on our machine last night... the one telling us that school will be closed due to the weather. I didn’t have much faith in any forecasts, since they have all been wrong so far.

I could tell it snowed by the quiet. The stillness. The brightness. My window shades were closed, and yet they glowed with whiteness. The reflection of the snow was too much for them to contend with. They gave heed to the radiance laid upon our neighborhood and glowed.

The roof, the windows, the porch... I could feel the weight enveloping the house. Like a giant hug, as though being swaddled in a frosty cloak. The boiler kicked on, combating the outside world. A hum replaced the silence.

Soon the snow plow joined the hum. The scraping on the asphalt cut the quiet, as did the beeping alarm... signaling the plow was now going in reverse. I listened to the scrape, then the beep, then more scraping, and yes, more beeping....

I laid in bed for an hour trying to go back to sleep. It was so peaceful... was....

Now came the noise that I could not ignore... those of the words twirling around in my head. I had to get up to write. To enjoy the tranquility. Soon it would be over. The kids will wake and see the blanket Mother Earth has laid down. I see lots of wet clothes, snow boots and hot chocolate in my future.
Toots should find this an interesting event as well. It's going to be hard to keep up with her. I can make the kids take their boots off at the door... they only have two feet. Toots doesn’t take boots off, she eats them. And its not two feet, it’s four... four furry, wet, over excitable feet to wipe... and fur! Soak up every possible wetness fur - everywhere - after each potty break.... each I want to go out to frolic break.... I am not looking forward to that part of the day. Bah Humbug.


What if I don’t give her much to drink? What if I close all the shades and not let anyone look outside? Scratch that! I am losing it. Still stuck in my ‘does it ever get any easier?’ mode... looking for the break. You know, the one where I don’t have to clean the same area over and over and over... The one where someone cooks for me, does my laundry, helps me with my ‘home’ work. I’ll snap out of it as soon as I have my coffee, which by the smell of it is almost ready.

I confirmed what I already knew by looking outside. There it was. Snow. Lots of it. The trees and bushes are all hanging low from the weight on their limbs. The wind whistled thru them, evident by the streaking dust trails left in its wake. Edges and angles of roofs only offer another artistic medium for the gusting wind. Only these trails were more like mini, glistening, frosty-white tornados. Cars lining the streets no longer had identities. No distinguishable colors or shapes, all just mounds of whiteness. Each a bit taller, transformed by the accumulation.

My coffee, now in hand, is perfectly hot and begging for me to consume. So too is this morning... I’m signing off to enjoy.

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