How many snow shovels have you owned in your life?

I can now say I’ve owned 2.

It started snowing yesterday, just as mom was leaving for the airport.

And since it was snowing, and because shops had been closed for two days for Christmas, the normal Saturday scramble was completely intensified.

I went shopping for a portable daylight lamp like the one Mara recommended to me (yes, I actually found a store with a whole section of lamps that simulate daylight).

When I got home, I prayed like I had never prayed before that I’d find a snow shovel in the basement. I did find an old stick with a wooden piece that somewhat resembled a shovel. No way that thing could handle snow.

Being in the snow is like using a muscle I haven’t used in 3 years. Baltimore snow learnings:

“don’t start shoveling until it stops”
“make sure you shovel once it stops”
“don’t let it freeze overnight”

I went back out, as the snow came down and darkness settled in. I walked home with my shovel and 5kg salt shaker, and a bookbag full of groceries (multi-tasking).

I waited for the snow to stop, then shoveled the walk and sidewalk, and salted.

I woke up in the middle of the night when my neighbors came home from their vacation and thought about how happy they were to come home to a freshly shoveled walk.

My landlord stopped by today and as he was leaving, he asked, “who arranged all this?”, while pointing to the shovel and salt.

Proudly, I told him.

He gave an approving look.

I felt a little like Kevin McCallister from Home Alone.

Something else that happens after it snows: the sun comes out.

Today, the sun was out all day and the sky was clear, bright blue.

I walked around outside in the freezing cold, chasing it from behind buildings and under bridges, letting my skin soak in all the Vitamin D it could get.

As the sun began to set (at around 3pm), I walked back and forth across one bridge three times so I could get direct sunlight. Sound crazy? Maybe. But I kind of think I’m turning crazy after not seeing the sun for weeks.

And you know what? That sunlight totally revved me up. I got home and finished up all the chores I had been putting off all winter. My to-do list was annihilated.

Winter blues erased for a day, at least.