Snosaycanyousee

Jackie ♦ February 6, 2010 ♦ 4 Comments

The last time we had snowfall this legendary, the girls were about 9 months old. We were living in a rented house we would leave within the next six months, I had just started an adjunct contract for one semester, and my husband was working at an organization he would leave in a year. That house was tiny and old with an enormous ghetto palm in the backyard, and the neighbors were raising pitbulls, possibly for fighting, and an old rusted traintrack ran through the scrubby woods at the end of our block. My car windows were smashed in one morning when I went out to drive to the grocery store, and I had read The Corner twice already and wondered why I had agreed to move here. Things were definitely feeling sketchy around the edges, and we had no idea what would come next, and I only have vague memories of that record-breaking snowstorm. My whole first year of motherhood is kind of a blur, characterized by patches and streaks of panic, fear and unbelievable love. I had no idea how we were going to survive, and rarely looked more than a week ahead.

Now, the snow has come again in near-epic amounts, and we are here, in a house we will stay in for the foreseeable future. The girls are mighty second-graders who just left for a playdate with the neighbor girl, and we are a cozy and respectable (slightly boring) family, with jobs and obligations and a mortgage. We’ve got two cats, two cars, and neighbors who came out to shovel and offered whiskey and coffee once we were finished. I love my job, and my family, and this city.

The stretch of our lives book-ended by these two snowstorms is one of uncertainty, delight, and periodic upheaval. I’m here typing, listening to the clangs and hisses of the radiators, so thankful we made it through, and to see the light shining steadfast through the clouds.