Nothing wakes up your inner child like the idea of a snow day. Waking up early like it was Christmas to watch the strip of text at the bottom of the news screen to see if your town made it to the school closing list. The elation of having a free day off to play out in the snow, go sledding, make a snow man, or maybe chill inside with hot chocolate and video games (well, maybe all of the above). With Boston’s eighth largest snow storm passing through this past week, I got to enjoy the bliss of not one, but TWO days off from the work grind! Now I bet you imagine I’ll write about how I used this day productively to make progress in my novel project.
And you’d be right, I got three thousand or so words down… After I spent a good portion of the games on my Switch playing Mario Party (I won, naturally).
How you use your time is a major component in how your take care of your self. For my mental health I’ve learned that my free time can be used in one of three ways. Recharge, by enjoying hobbies like games, legos, reading, anime, and so on. Fulfillment, spending time working towards a goal that brings a sense of gratification or purpose, like my book or even when I used to brew mead. And lastly, tuning out on my phone doom scrolling for the remaining hours of consciousness before bed (not the helpful kind). You’d be happy to know I focused on the first two.
While I am fortunate to work for a company that values their staff’s wellbeing over opening during a snow storm, not everyone got to have the day off like I did. Covid brought with it work from home, which is great for work life balance but it does cheat you from a snow day when your commute is not a factor. Then there are those who work through the snow. Essential government, first responders, grocers, and so on who have to persevere through weather and slippery roads to be there for those who need their help.
I want to shout out are the one behind the plow to clean the roads.
My father is one of those dudes in the truck.
He’s plowed driveways for years now. This last storm had the poor guy out for eighteen plus hours, starting at 3:00 AM, plowing the same driveways time and time again to make sure they can get to their cars and mailboxes with ease (you know, before the street plower blocks it again). With a new truck it would be rough, but his truck is lovingly named the Titanic after years of hard work and abuse. A rusted bed that needed sheet metal welded on, a leak or two here and there, a broken mirror, and god forbid the plow stop working mid plow (which, of course it did).
Heck, when he came home at last and was helping me clean up our driveway he had to fix his plow cables with tape.
His truck is literally held together by duck tape and a dream.
And is his work appreciated? I’m sure it is, definitely by me at least. But it’s also customer service, so it’s also “I don’t like how you plow my driveway,” “Don’t hit the grass,” and “Can you get my mailbox(Again)?”
The TLDR for this blog post comes down to three things: Make the most of more time given to you. Appreciate what it takes for service and essential workers go through to be there for you.
And lastly, thanks for plowing Dad (but you missed a spot).