Nothing like a good storm...

to bring neighbors + strangers together.

No, really. You can tell a lot about someone's personality when they face a bit of adversity -- ok, maybe more than a bit in some cases. You can either continue spinning your wheels in hopes that giving it even more gas will help; you can bitch about the landlady not having the plow truck there on time, as if this is the only lot in town; you can curse the heavens and moan about Mother Nature; you can whine and think of ways to buy your way out of the immediate trouble at hand.

Or... you can take the one of the plentiful shovels in hand and get to digging, helping others out so that they in return can they help you, if necessary. And you can even take a break from your own efforts to give somebody a push who's maybe stuck trying to make it around the corner.

It's good for us really. Understanding that sometimes citizens have to come together and not expect the overtaxed government services to be there right then. Main roads first, sidestreets next. And even if there's a neighbor you don't much care for based on past reasons, while you don't have to help her and her friends, you can always offer up a shovel, some sympathetic words, and a genuinely hearty "good luck!" Amazing the thanks you get in return, as well as the shovel kindly returned to your door. Best way to get past hard feelings from the past; maybe Mother Nature knows what she's doing after all, in challenging us to come together and put some effort into battling true adversity.

Hope you made it home safe, if you're local, and maybe even took a minute to admire the beauty of this pure white, plenty light stuff. The really drifts were (are?) something else, and I meant to pull out the camera, but was stuck behind a shovel. Elderly neighbors and all; you kinda learn to appreciate where you're at.

Remember, for best results: work together, people! Oh, and dig those cars out now, before you get frozen in overnight and the job's even harder in the morning...