Snowed...by Mary Hazlett

Funny how a little word like"snowed" can have different meanings.  It could mean the little white stuff that fell from the sky or it could mean something completely different like utterly exhausted (as I frequently hear from the younger generations).

I am sure you are looking at this picture thinking my title today is perfect.  This picture was taken in the winter of 1997 and this is me... excited for the work.   I think I was laughing at least the first hour of shoveling.  

The majority of my growing up years we lived in this beautiful home on the outskirts of Idaho Falls.  Those who know this area know that it blows and blows and blows.  If two inches of snow fell, we could end up with five foot drifts.  There was this one area on our driveway that I would watch as the drifts would pile up.  Because if the drift crossed the driveway, school was definitely going to be cancelled.  Longingly, I would look out the window each winter morning and look for that drift.  I remember one morning... not the one pictured here... I looked out and the drift was hefty and definitely across the driveway and so I optimistically went back to bed.  Only to discover that school continued as usual...bummer!  That was the only time though that I was wrong. 

The pictures posted here is still quite a vivid memory for me.  I remember that night I parked my car by the fence (on bare ground) with only a small chance for a storm to hit Idaho Falls.  The forecasters were definitely wrong with 14 inches of snow and hurricane winds, my car was barely recognizable by morning. (Due to just the antenna protruding out from the snow.)  My family and I shoveled for hours.  It was AWESOME!  I loved every minute of it.  Of course this is the mind set I had as a teenager... now... I think I would be more annoyed than anything.

I think I felt a lot of gratification that day.   To know that I had something important, special, and valuable underneath all this snow and the only way to get it was to put in the time, energy, and effort to get it.  I did finally get my car (which I lovingly named Lola Big Hubs) out of the snow as you can see here in the picture.  I am glad to have had this experience to remind me that hard work, though  perhaps mundane and redundant, will result in treasure.  So, tonight as I lay down in bed exhausted from working all day long for my little family and greatest treasures... I will know that it is all worth it to be "SNOWED". 

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