Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Ohhh…. (02/04/10)
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TITLE: Th Big Snow | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lynn Radford
02/11/10 -
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“Ohhh…” I sighed.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the snow. Winter is nearly my favorite season. I do not mind the cold and I enjoy the majestic views of my world wrapped in a blanket of the finest flakes; each created individually, no two alike. But… (and there always seems to be one,) my friends had taken to blaming me for any snowfall, however minute, once they found out I not only relished it, but that I prayed for it.
Yes, I actually do pray for it, or at least, I did. I used to pray fervently for a storm large enough to shut down the city for a week! My thinking was that if people were forced to stay home, they would spend time playing with their children and find camaraderie with their neighbors. I wanted the world to slow down just enough to allow folks to get out of their own way and take part in something bigger. But then one day, someone pointed out to me that people die in storms the likes of which I had been praying for.
“Ohhh…” I said.
I stopped praying for that big snow. Something in me felt hollow each winter without it, but I ceased my prayer just in case. I did not want to be the cause of others’ suffering. Years have gone by since I last uttered a request to God for a snowfall so large.
I stopped praying but my friends never halted their incessant teasing. Many really do blame me and my love of the fluffy white stuff, each time a flake drifts through the sky. Some have even taken it so far as to try to humiliate me in public forums when their schedules and agendas are knocked off-kilter by snowy weather.
I can understand their points of view. They have to drive in it and work in it, while I am able to enjoy its beauty from inside my warm abode. And yet…
“Ohhh…”
I dreaded the snow I loved because I knew what it would bring in the form of ridicule from friends and neighbors.
Imagine my surprise when the morning brought a call from a neighbor inviting me to go sledding! That call was followed by a message from a friend who related the tale of going out to shovel and ending up meeting her neighbors after having lived in her home for two years without previously done so. She put on a huge pot of homemade chicken noodle soup and invited the neighborhood inside for lunch! I watched the local news and saw numerous stories that told a similar tale.
Although the heavy snows brought damage and dangerous conditions, there was a silver lining. That which I had long hoped for had happened. People were forced to stop going through the motions of the rat race. In so doing, they found joy in the snows, even if they did have to break out the shovels and snow blowers.
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This was a fun read.