It seems that the Weather Channel will now be naming winter storms. Nice "get", WC...finding an unnecessary solution to a non-existent problem simply to get your little channel a little more attention. I will tell you, WC, that here in Maine, at least, you might need more than 26 names just to get through January. May I suggest Rusty and Nora....
I like storms...even winter ones. There is something exciting about tuning into the storm watch on TV and wondering how many inches will fall, how strong the winds will be, which pottery classes will be cancelled. Conan O'Brien joked that he's excited that he might hear, "Conan is expected to bring eight inches."
Winter storms do bring costs....the oil, the snow plow guy, the extra cheese curls I must buy to get through the power outages. And there's the shoveling all winter as the piles of snow get higher and higher simply to find a path so that Nora can get through and accomplish her missions. But the rush of wind, the first few ominous flurries, the hunkering down...basically just a part of winter in Maine and life as we know it. Although I complain sometimes, I know it's a part of why I live here. Like I said, I love storms...
Growing up in D.C., there would only occasionally be winter storm warnings. As kids, we would get excited with the possibilities of school cancellations, snow men, snowball fights, and coming back into the house, encrusted with snow, so that Mom could dismantle our frozen gear and give us a little warm lunch. But, most of the time, these storms would peter out or arrive as just a steady, cold rain. Yuck.
Disappointing. No fun. Not so here where I live now....if a Nor'easter is coming, it's a'coming.
The other part of winter storms I enjoy is when the storm passes and the sun makes a reappearance, producing a sparking, bright day, light reflecting off the new snow....my dogs bouncing and rolling around in fresh, fluffy drifts. Life goes on here after a storm...the streets and even the sidewalks are plowed, the snow is removed from Maine Street in dump trucks...and life goes on. We are then left with a sparkling reminder of where we live and, maybe, far more cheese curls than we ever really needed.
I think that storms are supposed to be just that....storms. The disappointment lies in when they don't measure up as promised...not measuring up to expectations...and not in the minor hardships they bring. We can weather a storm...the cold, the power outages, the shoveling...because it's what we want and it's what we are prepared for. But when Storm Lara or Storm Nancy produce only rain or slush or just a few insignificant inches, we might not admit it, but we know that we'll have to wait for the next storm to have any real, lasting fun.
I think that storms match and evoke the storms...the energies...inside me...inside us. Longing, desire, passion, enthusiasm...just wishing for a little external energy that will bring us alive...to our attention... to our feet. Life passes by too quickly and sometimes, without a reason to care, we begin to stop caring. Ya know?
Today, we just have overcast skies, a little drizzle, and unseasonably mild temperatures. Sigh. A lull between the drama of summer thunder storms and the energy of snow storms likely to arrive in just a couple short months. There is no excitement to this. Waiting....watching...hoping...that the wind will still pick up.
I know that others are out there looking out the window as well...feeling blah, feeling bored, even feeling lonely, just waiting for a little excitement and a good ol' lasting storm that will pull them to their feet for the wind, the snow, and the brilliant, crispy days that follow. And then, those disappointments from past, wimpy, disappointing wash-outs will disappear as merely a contrast to what can truly happen when nature's way...nature's energy...does its thing.
