February Freeze

We have a fire in the fireplace for the first time in almost two years. We didn't have one last year all winter because we'd just painted the house the previous summer. And of course fireplaces smoke up the house, I don't care how careful you are.

No fire thus far this year because of concern that the smoke would upset my allergies, making my ear and my balance issues worse. But tonight it is very cold. It is 10 degrees (F), with wind. It is supposed to be just below freezing tomorrow, a veritable warming trend, but we also have a chance of snow.

I read somewhere, in some book about writing, that if you must write about the weather, then you've nothing to say. But I have always found the weather interesting and in looking back it's always good to be able to say this event happened when.

I remember several significant weather events in my life, and there are dramas around all of them. I recall a big snow during a full moon when I was teenager (so like, 1979?). The snow stopped, the air cleared, and it was as crisp and clean as a plate glass window. My parents and my brother and I went walking, stomping through the snow. We laughed, threw snowballs at one another, and relaxed in the moonlight as it reflected off the snow almost as brightly as sun. I was happy for this one evening, and I remember it because it unusual for that. My parents weren't fighting, my brother wasn't being a pest, I wasn't being yelled at for existing. For just that one evening, we lived in the now without recriminations or tears. It was a happy snow.

It snowed on my wedding night, November 18, 1983. A light dusting, nothing much to speak of, but I remember it because of the event surrounding the date. The day I changed my fortunes and my life for the better.

In 1993, we had a huge snow. The power went out for a week. One week without electricity seemed like a lifetime. We had a generator, so we had some power, but not enough to take a shower with. Mostly we used it for heat and cooking. I could not get out of the house for days, and finally I couldn't stand it anymore. Despite my husband's warning that I might not make it back up the driveway (we have a very long driveway, uphill), I took off and went to Salem to take a shower at my grandmother's. That is the longest I have gone without a shower and trust me, that is not something I ever want to experience again!

Those are the snow events that stand out in my mind. There are some cold nights - I remember having to bring in the dog many times to be sure she was happy and warm - but they all merge together. There were big snows in my childhood but they too are a blur.

That moonlit walk is the one that stands out as something special and pure. I always thought it was a vision of what might have been, if things had been different. I am grateful at least for that one night, an evening in the moon and the snow, the one day I actually had a family.