Sometimes I can be like a guy. For years I convinced Jon that we didn’t need a snowblower.
I like to shovel I told him and I do. But mostly I had this idea that there was something whimpy about using a snowblower. I know the idea comes from my father. He had all kinds of rules about what real men do and don’t do.
And there was nothing better than being a man in my family.
It’s something I aspired to for years no matter how hopeless it would always be.
When I think that I was still holding onto this archaic idea even last year, I’m embarrassed. I would have called anyone a jerk who behaved the way I did. My father’s been dead for over 20 years. I guess I was still trying to prove my worth to him.
I don’t know what let me drop it this year and go along with Jon’s suggestion to get a snowblower.
But I’m so glad I did.
Today, while I shoveled off the porch, emptied the snow out of the hay feeders, and shoveled around the water bucket, Jon used the snowblower to clear all the paths on the farm. Every one. I didn’t have to shovel any of them.
That left me time and energy to go for a snowshoe in the woods with Fate and Zinnia. Something I’d much rather do than shovel snow for hours.
I hear my dad’s voice in my head all the time, and he died 10+ years ago. He was an electrical engineer (went to college at night after WWII on the GI Bill) and was always telling us to disconnect lamps amd appliances by pulling the plug out of the outlet. “Don’t yank on the cord!” When I caught him in his later years yanking on the cord, I knew the end was near. When I was little I didn’t get to see him much during the work week, so I hung out with him on Saturday mornings, going to the hardware store and puttering around the garage. Still have a lot of his tools.
My father too went to school on the GI bill, but he didn’t have a family yet. It’s so interesting those mundane things that become so important to people, it in some ways define them. It sounds like you had a sweet time being around your father on the weekends. That’s nice to hear about.
Every year the shoveling got worse for us that’s why I’m glad I live in the south now. I’m very glad that you have help from Jon now. LOL
I can see living someplace sunnier yearround when I get older Uta.
I would beg him to stop by the pet store after we went to the hardware store. “We’ll just look at the puppies, Daddy. Just look!” That’s how I got my first pet, a little white bunny I named Thumper (after the rabbit in the Disney Bambi animated movie). I held him on my lap in a little paper bag on the car ride home. Dad said “Wait in the car until I tell Mom.”
That’s a classic story Jill. Makes me smile, so thanks.
Thank you for triggering these happy memories. My parents’ last few years were more than a little tough, and it’s a blessing to let my mind and heart roam back to happier times.
And thank you for sharing them Jill.