If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Mom and I tackled the driveway this morning and although it wasn't exactly the snow shoveling task of the century (or even of the season), it was still cold, damp, and miserable outside...contrary to what every Minnesotan has been saying for the past couple of days.
Note to crazy people living in Minnesota: 3o degrees is STILL cold even if it's not cold to you considering it's winter in Minnesota. Thirty degrees is BELOW FREEZING! That is, technically, COLD.
Anyway, I haven't shoveled snow in over eight years but I have to tell you this--it's like riding a bike; you never forget how. Of course, Dad insisted that Mom and I were shoveling wrong and proceed to describe to us the right way to do it...as if pushing a shovel across a driveway and throwing the snow over a snowbank requires the mathematical precision of a professional pool player and the scholarly training of a brain surgeon. It's shoveling, for goodness sake. If you get the snow off the driveway, you've done it right. If you do so without suffering a heart attack, broken back, or strained muscle, it's called a success.
I quickly got back into the hang of things, including remembering how much I hate to shovel half-way through finishing the job, feeling muscles I had long forgotten were there, and wiping my runny nose on my jacket without thinking that was gross. Everything you see on me is borrowed...the boots, the jacket, the gloves, the scarf, and the hat. I'm proud to say I no longer own a single piece of winter clothing. Even the long-sleeve shirts I brought with me are Southern California lightweight. I wear my Dad's sweatshirts over them to keep warm.
None of this is to say I'm not enjoying my stay here, but it certainly reinforces my love for living in California. Life is much easier when you don't have to battle the cold and snow. Or, to put it another way, I prefer to battle the heat and the sun.
By the time Mom and I finished the job, the next mini-flurry floated its way back onto our freshly cleared driveway.
Thank you very much, Mother Nature. And thanks for such a "warm" welcome back to Minnesota.