Shoveling Accross the Patrick Henry Overpass

Okay, so this isn't exactly about cancer...... but it's a good story! Besides, the fact that I had the kind of energy to want to do this attests to my having gotten my energy back. I feel like I just got it back in recent weeks..... I know I've said that before -- I guess I get it back in increments. Well this time I got a lot back....... I guess I can't really say if I have the energy now that I used to have, but I certainly have WAY more than most people, which is the way I remember my normal energy level feeling. OKay, 'nuff of that. Here's the story:

Did you hear about our snow in the news? We broke a record set in 1899...... We had FEET! And while they handled it much better than usual (we got plowed early!) they didn't handle it quite the way they do in SOmerville MA...... Oh Honey, no WAY. So, all the neighborhood streets that used to be 2 way were suddenly one way -- because they only plowed ONE path through the middle -- and the big streets were plowed down to one lane on each side, instead of 2...... and people had to walk in the streets because the sidewalks weren't done -- even BIG streets.

School was closed the whole week before president's day, because we had 2 feet of snow the weekend before --2/5-6-- and then another foot the next Wed/Thurs 2/10-11. The government was closed all week too -- they opened Friday with a "liberal leave policy" which means they understand if you can't get in but it's your vacation day. Alan went in. He said he spent 5 hours commuting to do 8 hours of work......

Though they did an astonishing job compared to the usual way they don't handle snow, the county couldn't deal with all of it. SO......

There’s a bridge over interstate 66 around the corner from us, which the local middle school kids have to walk over to get to school – and the county didn’t shovel the sidewalks. People were walking in the street. Of course Emily is one of the local middle school kids, and at this point has a lovely arrangement where her 2 buddies on the street come get her every morning and they all walk to school together..... COurse we could drive them for a bit, but ugh; I'd rather shovel for hours on end than be on call for driving duty every day because the shoveling didn't happen.

SO I organized a community effort to shovel a path across the Patrick Henry overpass. We had one side done before school started (last Tuesday, the day after president’s day -- ) which took 5 people. We had to get the other one done too, though, because the kids have to negotiate a dicey crossing to access the other side, and there’s no crossing guard at that corner. (We’ve tried, for years. Cross at the school, is the school & county's solution, where they have a crossing guard……) My neighbor friends whose kids also go to Swanson (Em's school) were maxed out of shoveling, but I got a couple other volunteers. It was going to be slower, but so what? My energy is back (finally!) I could have shoveled that bad boy all by myself -- it just would have taken me a couple of days.

Anyway this woman and I shoveled Thursday morning. She was there for 2.5 hrs and I stayed for another 2 hours after she left. (She was really interesting -- & I wouldn't have met her if I hadn't asked for volunteers!) She answered the request I made through the school PTA listserv -- I also got a response from the neighborhood civic association listserv -- but I never got to meet him. Anyway while I was shoveling on Thursday morning after my school volunteer had left, a county truck pulled over and said they’d do it, I could stop. It was really hard for me to pin them down to a time, though. First they said they didn't know when they could come, and when I asked if they could do it by Monday (tomorrow) they hemmed and hawed and finally said yes..... I really just wasn’t anything like convinced.... so I kept shoveling for another hour and a half, probably, and arranged to come finish up on Saturday with a last volunteer or 2. (Probably more would have showed up -- people seem to be more up for doing this kind of thing on Saturday mornings.)

In retrospect, I guess the sight of a woman shoveling alone with a shoveled path half a bridge long behind her and half a bridge full of knee-high untouched snow ahead of her might have given them a bit of a kick in the butt. :-D They didn’t know I was only alone for the moment (by then I’d had help from 6 other volunteers and had 2 more ready to help this weekend.) They also didn't know that a good sweaty workout is actually my idea of a good time, and that I COULD TOO have shoveled all the way across by myself; it just might have taken me a few days.

But they DID come, to my complete astonishment, the next day! They came and cleared all the snow, just this Friday and Saturday (yesterday.) Personally I think our community effort made it happen…. and that's what I said in the thank-you email I sent to all the volunteers, including the guy I had lined up for yesterday morning who never got to shovel. I do have to admit that I felt a bit...... all geared up and nothing left to shovel! (Though I did shovel that bridge for a good 7 hours, at least, & the last 4.5 were all at one time, Thursday am. See, that's what I mean about the energy coming back.) I guess I could go around shoveling other stuff.... there are a lot of sidewalks in front of people's houses that they haven't done. (YOu don't get ticketed for that here!) I was thinking of telling my bridge shoveling story to my biking club and seeing if I could inspire every Babe in Babes on bikes to go shovel a piece of the inundated bike trail closest to wherever they live...... but then Joan took me cross country skiing yesterday out on the bike trail, and I realized that anyone who x-c skis won't want shoveled patches on the path -- so I'll have to wait for that effort until there are already enough unsnowy patches that skiing doesn't work.