| Sunny Side Up
with Kathleen Gibson December 17, 2008 Jesus brought joy, so laugh already I shoveled snow at dawn today. Unlike yesterday morning (when so much of the stuff had fallen that I feared I�d break the shovel) only a dusting covered the walks and driveway�large, soft flakes that scooped easily. But more fell on my shoulders, and the sky looked pretty leaden. �Doin� a good job!� said the early morning paperboy, as he dropped the Leader Post in the neighbour�s mailbox. �You should work for the city.� I already work for the city, I thought. Took me a good half-hour to level the pile of hard snow their plows left at the foot of the driveway. Tossed it right back on the road. �Isn�t it a lovely morning?� called a home care aide making her way into the building across the road. Only in Saskatchewan does minus ten deserve the label, I thought, but yes�at least the wind�s not up. Yet. Even the drivers of passing cars grin and wave as they watch me wield the shovel. Cheer rises with the dawn, it seems. Either that, or people in my part of town take happy pills with their raisin bran. I�ve got to get me some, I think. Anyone know where? Even the Preacher was cheerful this morning. �Doesn�t feel cold out here at all. But a storm�s comin� I hear,� he said, manoeuvering his walker down my newly shoveled path toward the car. The Preacher loves storms. I�ve known that since we first dated in Winnipeg, several ice ages ago. Even on the date when we missed our bus and had to walk a mile back to the college, and he had no boots, and his white Elvis shoes got so cold the soles cracked in half�even then, he didn�t lose his affection for severe winter weather. This morning as he got in the (already warmed) car to head off to his early physio appointment, he handed me a gift through the window�a new scraper, so I can do a better job of cleaning the frost off the windshields. �How d�ya like it?� he asked, about three seconds into the job. �It�s a scraper, hon. And it�s a short one.� He looked worried. �But it does a good job,� I added. Relieved, he watched me finish, then pulled out, grinning. The Preacher finds it funny that after three decades of mostly doing all these winter tasks himself (is this retribution, God?) not only does he now have command start, he also has command scrape. And command shovel. Even, on occasion, command heave. Yesterday, for instance, I had to get in the car and heave the doors on the driver�s side free of ice. There are some benefits to being disabled, he quips. I hate it that he quips. Not really. I quip too (usually later in the day). Laughter, along with prayer, is an excellent life-preserver. And now, during the season of Jesus� birthday, it seems especially appropriate to laugh. He came, after all to bring us joy. � Kathleen Gibson Respond Home |
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