How much do we Love a Snow Holiday!

Enjoying a piping hot cup of somethin’ as we look out the window at Nature’s Blanket of Pure White Beauty, making everything new again, as she whispers to us, “Pause. You can start Fresh. Now.”

There is infinite Comfort & Peace in the Breathtaking Beauty of Nature and her most perfect rhythms.

We didn’t have many Snow Holidays when I was a kid – almost none.

It snowed!
You were expected to get to school or to work.

And you did.

The buses ran – even if they got stuck. They dug their way out and kept going!

My MOM would often tell me the story of waking up one morning to a fierce winter snowstorm and she and her downstairs neighbor, MAUREEN (who had four kids the same age as MOM’s) were collaborating to decide whether or not it would be safe to send us to school – it was an eight block walk from where we lived. They trudged up to the corner to look up Decatur Avenue. The snow back in those days appeared to be ten feet high, but it was probably only two feet or so – still more than we usually see nowadays. A narrow path had been shoveled through the center of the sidewalk so that people could just barely pass through single file, although that made the snow piles on the sides taller than us kids. But they saw a path. MOM and MAUREEN looked at each other, shrugged and nodded, “They can go!” They hurried back upstairs, bundled us all up and sent us off to school on our own.

Today, snow like that happens a lot less often. And when it does there are all kinds of practical shutdowns and emergency alerts declared. And of course, it is good to keep people safe and do what we can to protect one another.

But back in those days, the privilege of going to school and receiving an education – learning —  or working was so powerfully appreciated, it was unthinkable to miss even one day! And from the Gratitude they felt for that opportunity for their children, these two young Mothers – Titans in the Bronx — exhibited the strength of HANNIBAL, who reputedly stated in response to being told that he could not cross the Alps by Elephant, “Aut inveniam viam aut faciam”  

(*”I shall either find a way or make one.” )

That’s how we were raised.

Two women saw a clear path.

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