When you're still so remarkably pissed off at an insurance company...

When you're worried that someone is trying too hard to be upbeat and brave...

When it feels like there are some things in life you will never be ready for...

When you're tired of hearing "lie-berry" for library and "stay-puh-luh" for stapler...

When you listen to a student talk about visiting her boyfriend in prison, and her and her friend's tone indicates that there isn't anything strange about this to them; it's just how life is...

When it seems like spring will never come...

When your face is tired and feels like you've been crying for days, maybe because you have cried, at least a little, every day for two weeks...

When it feels like you simply can't go on because you just can't do all of this, you're only one person...

When all this happens...

You pull up to an intersection in Harlem, in the midst of a light hail storm, just as the light is turning from green to yellow and a middle-aged man loses control of his wheelchair on the small balls of ice landing everywhere on the sidewalk and street.  He and his chair tip over in the middle of the intersection, as the light turns red.  Just as you are putting your car in park, about to get out and help him, two men from opposite sides of the street, strangers to each other, come running, upright the wheelchair, and together they lift the man back into it and make sure he gets back onto the sidewalk safely.  As the ice continues to fall and the traffic light turns green, no cars at the intersection move.  Instead they all wait to be sure the man is safely back on the sidewalk, and then they drive on.

Just when you want to give up, the kindness of strangers can really provide a moment of renewal.

Yesterday, lovetoeatinpa left a comment about how she loved snow as a kid because it meant days off from school, playing outside, and drinking hot chocolate - but that now, as an adult, she no longer loves snow.

I realized as I read the comment that I don't have as many of those childhood snow memories.  I have some, but they're mostly from my grandmother's house in upstate NY.  When I was a kid (up until age 11), we lived in an apartment and didn't have anywhere to go outside and play in the snow.  I think I adore snow now for the same reason I did then - its beauty and magical qualities.  What else actually sparkles as it blankets the earth?  I don't recall many snow days from school, though there must have been some.  If there were, I probably spent them reading books and staring out the window - exactly how I'd love to spend a snow day now . . . except I'd be reading on my nook and looking out the window of a place I pay half the rent for.  How times change.

As an adult, I've learned to just deal with snowfall.  I've always worked for employers who didn't close for snow.  When I worked in a benefits call center, we couldn't close (standard call center procedure) so they'd put some of us up in a hotel across the street to ensure we could make it in and answer the phones.  Later, I worked at NYU - famous for never closing for snow.  Why would you when nearly everyone either walks a few blocks to get there or takes the subway?  I marched through a good amount of snow to get to the train station on some days (and slipped and fell on my fair share of ice, too).  To me, though, this was just part of working.  Somehow it's easier to get up and go to work when you don't bother entertaining the idea that work might be closed.

Today is the same.  The school I work for has several campuses, but I happen to work at the one that hasn't been closed for weather since I started here so I didn't bother entertaining any thoughts about having a day off.  Besides, if the school is closed for snow, we get charged a vacation day.  Not that I couldn't use a vacation day, but I like to take them on my own terms (and this year, in particular, I am saving them for baby-related events).  So I went to bed figuring, eh, get up early, dig out the car, go to work...

BUT THEY ACTUALLY CLOSED WORK TODAY!!!  I'm amazed about this.  I can't remember the last time I had a snow day!  (Okay, it's using a vacation day, but I'm okay with this.)

So I still got up at a semi-normal time, shoveled off the steps and sidewalk (our neighbor nicely used his snowblower on our walkway and half our sidewalk, so this wasn't a lot of work).  Then I cleaned off the hubby's car before he had to go to work.  Then I cleaned off my car and cleaned enough space in the backyard for Oreo to go out.  It's due to snow more (it's snowing again now) but it helps to have less accumulation to clear.  I spent another hour doing some straightening up around the apartment (packing up books to make room for new shelves and general baby-space-making rearranging) then I decided to relax for a bit.  I don't want to overdo it, of course.  Maybe I'll do a bit more this afternoon.  For now I think I'll get some schoolwork done!

I hope you have off if it's snowing!