I was up before light this morning, taking teenagers to school so they could get the bus to an indoor track meet in Burlington, Vermont. Normally my oldest, Sweetest, would have gone as well but she wasn’t feeling well so I dragged myself out of bed to get other people’s kids down there. And I don’t mind really, it’s awful to throw someone into disarray at 6 a.m. because my plans have changed.
It just so happened that it snowed last night and we had a little accumulation, I don’t know, maybe six to nine inches. I wasn’t more than twenty feet from my house when the car started to go sideways. So I slowed down and instead of taking ten to fifteen minutes to get down to school it took more than thirty.
But what a drive it was. I don’t know if I can describe it, but it was like being thrown back a hundred years. The road had shrunk to a third of its normal size because it hadn’t been plowed and there were just tracks down the middle where a few cars had traveled.
The headlights lit the snow on the trees which were bending over the road. A fantasy landscape. And when we drove through Royalton it was like coming into the village on a horse drawn sleigh. Only a little warmer because we were in the car. Not a lot warmer thought, because my car heater isn’t working right.
So you get the idea – the snow transformed the world, hiding many of the signs of modern life. Guard rails and road lines, all the hard edges disappeared, at least until the snow plows went through and changed many things back.
Unfortunately, the plows didn’t do much for the treachery. Either there was ice under the snow or the process of scraping turned the snow into ice, because I spent much of the day praying I wasn’t going to hit the immovable object I was heading for. But I’m home safe now and all is well.
There is something to be learned from this. A deep and profound truth of which the snow is a metaphor. But danged if I know what it is. It’s lurking in my subconscious and refuses to come out and be seen. I remain as ignorant as ever of the complexities of life.
I just hope it’s not snowing Tuesday when I make the five hour drive to NYC. I’ve decided to stay at my cousin’s house for the night. In light of the weather it seems like the more sensible choice.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Everyone arrived home from the indoor track meet safe and sound. And while I don’t see myself as mother to all the world, I like the kids on Sweetest’s team and their parents too.
I truly believe in paying it forward, and plenty of people have done favors for me in the past, so it’s all good.
Here’s what I’ve come up with for a life lesson. (for now anyway.)
Even beauty is perilous. or – Often in life we see beauty when we are in the most peril. Gack. Neither of those sound right. Oh well, I’ll try again later!
First of all, glad you arrived safely. Second, I have so done that… not the driving in the snow part exactly, but the follow-through for other people’s kids and sticking to the plan. It’s the sign of a good mom, even if we didn’t give birth to those in our care.
I like the “sensible choice” for staying over before the drive.
Oh my. I hate driving in stuff like that. I hope the bus fared as well as you did, by which I mean, arrived safely at its destination. That is definitely no fun.
Oh wow. An adventure, indeed! Glad you got through it well.
The metaphor will out at the oddest moment after moseying around in your subconscious for a while. It sounds like its shaping up to be a good one. I’ll avoid giving my view of it for fear of tainting yours. But then I live in a snow-free climate so what do I know?!