Snowed In

By now, everyone in the world must know that we are snowed in here in Seattle. Especially where I am, on the top of Queen Anne Hill, the western side, on the street just before the hill drops down to Interbay.

It goes without saying that being snowed in as a grown-up isn't the same as being a kid on Capitol Hill, dragging a big saucer toboggan over to the hill by Jenica's house, hoping to run into other neighborhood kids. Now there are days of work missed and worry about whether to drive or not, and the general anxiety of just letting everything drop for more than a week. All plans, obligations, expectations, snowed out. Every couple hours, I hear another set of wheels spinning, look out the window and see a car stuck, or struggling.

So, that's one version of it. But also, there are a lot of cups of tea here at my place, and bowls of soup, and cookies have been baked. There was a good long walk Susan and I took in the snow together, laughing the way we always do together, and there was the night that B and I decided we needed to see each other, and he walked all the way to Queen Anne from Ballard and I walked halfway down, our way through the dark lit by the bright white of the snow, and for me, the happiness of reunion.

Today starts the official break from work, and Jessica will be here soon, and Regan is visiting from DC, and the snow will melt soon, won't it? It starts to seem, after a certain time passes, that perhaps it just never will. What would happen then? We would forget what it is to see the bare arms of a stranger, learn where all the snow shovels in the neighborhood are, base all our outfits on mitten/hat/scarf combinations, and I would clean out my pantry, diminish my tea supply, and finish War & Peace.