I know it shows a total lack of continuity to go from a happy post about flower picking to an unhappy post about cold and snow, but hey, this is my blog and there are no rules here.
December has arrived and I feel like we deserve pats on the back for making it through our first six months in a wildly new environment. I was just starting to feel comfortable and well-adjusted and into a swing of things when boom! Here comes winter and I feel homesick for my people. East coasters that say "soda" instead of "pop" and know the value of a good sandwich and don't say things like "12 degrees is pretty warm" and define common sense in more or less the same terms.
So here's the thing about Pullman: everyone knows each other. Everyone loves each other. Everyone goes to church and praises Jesus and sings in the choir. So can someone please explain to me why it's okay to leave 3 inches of snow on the ground, and not plow it, and let it get compacted and icy and let everyone slide around on these roller coaster-like hills that everyone lives on?
I guess I'd understand if it was a town where everyone hated each other, but I mean, a single mother skidded on the "highway" (they call it a highway) going towards Moscow and was killed and everyone knew her of course so they all went to the funeral today and how is no one but me really upset that they don't bother to plow the roads?!
It kind of surprises me how much this infuriates me, but this kind of thing is so unnecessary and preventable. But when I mention how this is how things should be done, I get called a wimp and a New York snob and I guess if that's what common sense makes me, then so be it.
In the meantime I'm driving as slowly and carefully as I can, which is not easy on this really steep hill we live on, and it's literally under 10 degrees every morning which does not make the icy any less slippery. I'm following some Pullmanite advice to "tap gently as though an egg is under your brakes" and trying not to make an omelette of a disaster of my life. I refuse to let this winter kill me. Refuse to! But last time I gave myself an internal pep talk I was mid death defiance and took a pretty hard tumble in the parking lot. It was a church parking lot. The whole thing was so icy it could have been a skating rink. C'mon, pastor! Or minister, or whoever. This is straight up sinful neglect. And my ankle hurts.
And again! I slid pretty hard in my car on the turn up the hill towards home yesterday. The oncoming car blared at me, and I gained control and sped out of the way just in time. I was pretty shook up and was ready to have a full-on meltdown in the carport but then I saw Christmas presents from the future in-laws on the porch and decided to put meltdown on hold and get a Christmas tree instead. Yay holidays?
Every year, me and lots of other adults have a hard time feeling "Christmassy" and getting into the spirit, but it's going to come a lot easier for me this year. I have the anticipation of going home and finally seeing my family and friends. I haven't been to Connecticut since May, and that visit doesn't even count because it was for my grandmother's funeral, and how is that even possible I haven't been home since then? I've been across America since my last hometown trip and deserve a warm reunion with family and friends and puppies and babies. And to get there on roads that are not slicked with ice from last week's snowfall.
Amen.
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