This is the second worst snowstorm I have ever experienced, the first being the famous 1991 Halloween blizzard in Duluth. It was the same storm that eventually hit the East Coast as "The Perfect Storm," but in the upper Midwest, tiny innocuous-looking snowflakes started falling Halloween afternoon, and kids went out trick-or-treating in winter jackets and no one really thought much of it, but the storm intensified and went on for about three days. It took more than that for just the major streets to be plowed, getting vehicles out on the road and businesses up and running again. I had a car in those days, and the driving was bizarre. The piles of snow were so high that you couldn't see "around the corner" when you came to an intersection. But the most memorable aspect of that winter was that it stayed cold and snowy, with more and more inches added to the 36-40 that originally fell, so that it wasn't until late April and May that the snow started to disappear. As it did, grinning orange and black jack-o'lantern bags of leaves started peeping out of the diminishing grey-ish piles, having been left out near the street for trash pick-up six months earlier.
At least the remnants of the Tuesday-Wednesday storm are unlikely to linger more than a few weeks, but it is still kind of unnerving to experience it on the cusp of spring. Oddly enough, I have never been a fan of snow, despite a lifetime of it. I've looked with longing at the photographs being posted of flowers coming up in England, and down south. This wall of frigid white goes against one's inner clock somehow.
The best wisdom I've encountered in a long time comes from one of my favorite "gurus," Mike Dooley. If you don't receive his "Notes from the Universe," you must consider it (www.tut.com.) Here was today's note:
Primitive
societies live by the Rule of Might, and the strong prevail.
Advanced societies live by the Rule of Law, and the privileged prevail.
Enlightened societies live by the Rule of Love, and everyone is lifted higher.
Advanced societies live by the Rule of Law, and the privileged prevail.
Enlightened societies live by the Rule of Love, and everyone is lifted higher.
I have a feeling we are transitioning from a "Primitive-Advanced" society, to an "Advanced-Enlightened" one. At least that is what will keep me going the next few days in this winter wonderland!
