Winter Wonderland

 

For more than a week, we’ve lived in a deep freeze with sub-zero temperatures and frigid wind chills. The cold weather became officially miserable especially when the snow brought travel to a screeching halt, or worse, a slide into the ditch.

I had made a trip to town ahead of the storm and stocked up on most of the essentials. I didn’t realize that my gallon of milk was more like a pint. After considering the state of the roads and my driveway, I decided I could get by a few days without milk.

Of course, I couldn’t just hang around the house because I had to take care of the dog and cat. The dog lives in the house and the cat curls up in his own cozy, heated house. My dog likes to go outside multiple times a day and I had to replenish the cat’s food and water.

When I took the dog out, I couldn’t help but sing, “Winter Wonderland.” Well, it’s possible I was just trying to psych myself into believing that beauty trumped the cold. It was so cold, that I could almost see the words freezing in mid-air.

Still, I felt lucky to live in a warm house with running water. My car was garaged and I knew it would start easily.

I can remember when Jim and I went through all the hardships of winter. We’ve lived in houses that were impossible to keep warm.

On cold winter nights, Jim would go outside and start our vehicles several times to make sure they would start in the early morning. He could drive in any conditions, and he liked to be the first through the roads.

Jim was an awesome driver in bad weather. Even after he had dementia, I called on him to drive a couple of times when I chickened out. One time, I had him drive on a snowy day and another time, I freaked out on a mountain road and had him drive down the mountain. Traffic could cause him problems, but he never lost his skill as a driver until late in dementia.

On the other hand, I remember one time when our water froze, and Jim just continued watching TV. I called Eric and my brother-in-law to alert them to the problem.

I found my insulated coveralls, my snow boots, preparing for the chill of the great outdoors on my way to the pump house. By the time I made it outside, the two of them were thawing the water lines.

“Your dad is sitting in the house watching TV,” I complained to Eric. “He wasn’t concerned that we didn’t have any water.”

“Well, I bet he would have been concerned if the electricity had gone off and he couldn’t watch TV.”

Yes, that would have made a difference.

Now, I don’t have anyone to shovel the walk, but Harold’s cousin does plow the driveway. At least, I could go get the gallon of milk that I neglected to get ahead of the storm.

Looking from the inside out, the winter wonderland still glistens several days after the storm. The windchills still have the temperature in the sub-zero range.

On our daily phone call this morning, my mom and I talked about warmer days ahead. All that stands between us and the balmy breezes of spring is the short month of February and a few weeks of March.

Wintertime can be a wonderland, or a “wonder how are we going to make it through” another Snowmageddon time. The beauty of winter is not so much in the eye of the beholder as it is whether you are inside looking out, or outside looking in.    

 

Copyright © January 2026 by L. S. Fisher

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