GraceNotes …………..….. February 15, 2011
Snow Day 2011
Sycamore neighborhoods seemed to be a lot different when I was a child.
The neighbors seemed closer, more friendly, the kids played together in
the neighborhoods more. Maybe there was more of a togetherness feeling or
community spirit? If you were born in Sycamore, or maybe in any rural
town back in the 1950s or 1960s, do you remember the long-awaited school
snow days?
Remember back to the time when you were a kid in school. Remember how
excited you were when you woke up in the morning and saw that it had
snowed during the night? Remember rushing to the radio and listening to
the list of school closings and doing a "happy dance" when you heard your
school's name? Then you called your friends, bundled up, went outside,
and built snow forts and snowmen. After playing in the snow for hours,
you came in, took all those wet snow clothes off, and one of the
neighborhood mothers would fix hot chocolate … with tiny marshmallows.
This went on the entire day … in one house, outside again, and then to
another house. Finally, as it neared suppertime, you went home to eat and
go to bed – immediately dropping off into an exhausted sleep.
When I was a kid, I know I didn't think about all that was involved with
that snow day. I didn't know about the snow plow drivers that worked
throughout the night trying to keep roads open. I didn't realize how hard
it must have been for my Dad to get up extra early in order to get our
walks shoveled before he left for work, and we had a large corner lot and
no snow blower! I remember helping him, and the kids in the neighborhood
sometimes helped too -- if that's what you could call it. There was a lot
of goofing off. I'm not sure how much help we actually were.
A snow day, however, looked a little different to me this year. First, I
am no longer a child, and second, even knowing on Wednesday that I didn't
have to go into work (it was decided Tuesday night that the church office
would be closed on Wednesday), I woke up the morning after the snow storm
to an amazing two feet of snow on our street, sidewalks, and driveway.
Our driveway has only room for one vehicle so my son had to park his car
in the street. I looked out the front window and thought. "The snow plow
has been through. Boy is his car buried!"
When I took a closer look, I noticed that the front steps were shoveled
and there was a path to my car in the driveway, and the snow was shoveled
behind the Expedition several feet so I could have actually made it to
work if I used the four-wheel drive. I stayed inside nice and warm until
my son got up and went out to move his car. He started outside with
shovel in hand -- and to my mother-way of thinking, was not dressed warmly
enough! He was working to get his car out as the snow plow driver was
making another pass around the block. I looked at the amount of snow
needing to be shoveled from his car and our sidewalks and decided to help
shovel him out. I bundled up and went outside. Looking up and down the
street I noticed several others out shoveling their sidewalks and
driveways. Some had snow shovels, some had snow blowers. It kind of
reminded me of when I was young and everyone was out shoveling out after a
big snow. This time, everyone wasn't playing joyfully in the snow, but
working very hard to move a great deal of snow.
After some hard shoveling, my son cleared the front of his car enough to
drive it out … almost. By this time, I was outside helping and got behind
him to give him a push. He needed just a little help to get the traction
going and I provided just the little push he needed. However, standing in
two feet of snow and leaning over pushing a car provided me with just
enough challenge to make me lose my balance. So, as I fell to my knees
and saw my son driving his car down the street, the phrase "help, I've
fallen and I can't get up" flashed through my mind. Now, mind you, I have
had two total knee replacements and I haven't kneeled since 2005.
Thankfully the snow was soft, but I couldn't get myself in a position to
push off or up. Thank goodness our neighbor across the street was out
snow blowing his driveway and witnessed my "graceful" fall. He came over
to help and he had me standing by the time my son returned from turning
around at the end of the street -- there were no clear driveways any
nearer to turn his car around.
I stood with the neighbor and my son and watched the plow came around two
more times to make sure the street in front of our house was clear. The
driveway, however, looked like there was a small mountain in it. I think
that our neighbor, my rescuer, took pity on us, because he came with his
snow blower and did our driveway -- and just for good measure he finished
up the sidewalks too. Bless his heart! I think my son and I would have
had to shovel all day to move the amount of snow he moved in only fifteen
minutes.
Maybe snow days aren't so different in neighborhoods today afterall?
Maybe snow does bring good neighbors closer? And here is a small puzzle.
We still don't know who shoveled our front porch or the path to my car in
the driveway that day. Maybe it was a good neighbor?
God Bless,
Sue McMillan
Upcoming at Salem …
Friday – February 18
Scrappin' Bonanza in Fellowship Hall – 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Saturday – February 19
Scrappin' Bonanza in Fellowship Hall – 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Praise Team Rehearsal – 8:30 a.m.
Monthly Morning Ministry – 9:00 a.m.
Musical Rehearsal – 10:00 a.m.
WORSHIP – Praise Team – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday – February 20
WORSHIP – 8:00
Sunday School - 9:15 a.m.
1st Communion Class – F.H.
GRACE WORSHIP – 10:30
Sunday Night Thing – 7:00 p.m.
Homebound Communion this Weekend
Have a Great Presidents' Day on February 21st !
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