Ice! Ice is brilliant for walking along--or should I say sliding along, so long as you bear in mind that the wet spots are likely to be slick and the 'dry' looking spots are definitely icy (as one of my Greek classmates so helpfully pointed out). I think most of the brilliance comes from the way that, in the enjoyment of the cold and the ice, I'll occasionally look up and find someone returning my smile--someone else who isn't cursing under their breath but is just beaming, half from the fun of it and half in self-aimed humor at the few times they nearly/actually fall.
Of course, then there were the many cases of swaggering young lads who fell onto their posterior one too many times and hollered "screw this!" (an exact quotation) and stormed back to their dorms (teetering and sliding all the way). That just makes it all the more fun. Not-so-amusing were the stories of the numerous spills another of my Greek classmates experience while attempting to bike to campus. (Of course, said classmate being a male, these tales were told with the utmost calm and - dare I say - pride, so one can't feel too badly for him.)
What are the blessings of ice? Perhaps the fact that an otherwise not-so-wonderful teacher had us all write our names down just for coming so that he could 'pay us back.'
Or the fact that we got out of a very tedious chem lab (...now you measure the cylinder and calculate the density of the metal...blahblah...ooh, look, kids, we get to use thermometers! can you say therm-o-met-er? Gooood!) an hour early.
Or the way the bus to the parking lot was so packed that I actually got to stand up (...and you can just stop laughing, because standing up on a bus is too fun and exciting and that is so not a small-town sentiment...)
Once I got to my car, however, I realized the ways that ice isn't so brilliant after all, because it's a quarter of an inch thick all over poor Rhonda (oh the joys of arriving around eight in the morning and not leaving 'till three in the afternoon...). Determined to be cheerful, I turned on the heat and let it warm from the inside out while I diligently scratched away on the outside, thanking God that I decided to buy the larger scraper over the small ("more space efficient") one.
Then began the laborous trek back home. It went fairly smoothly--the parking lot was the most treacherous, but Rhonda slid along in all the right directions and once I got to the main roads it was fairly clear. Once on the highway I think I made it up to 45 mph, which was cruising at the time.
I knew my neighborhood would be a problem, so I was determined to do it properly. I let the car slow down all by itself, didn't go on the nasty looking shoulder, etc... But when I got onto the frontage road to make the right turn up the hill (the nastiest part of the neighborhood), halfway through Rhonda decided that going right didn't suit her anymore and she would much rather just keep going forward at an awkward angle. Fortunately, it was uphill, so there was no dreaded sliding or scraping or screaming--at some point I just realized 'oh. The steering wheel isn't doing anything anymore.' And then I realized if I tried going more to the right, I'd hit a sign, and that more to the left would land me in a ditch, so I just braked and parked the car. We were perched on the grass going uphill with the emergency lights blinking, but it wasn't anything dramatic. I tried reversing, but the wheel still wouldn't work, and only then did it occur to me - 'oh. I almost went into a ditch.' It was such a calm event that I didn't really believe it happened. I called my mother and explained the situation. She said she'd bring two boys and see what could be done.
I sat in the car, waiting for help to arrive. While I waited, another car--similar in proportions to my own--inched past me and successfully made it up the hill. I gazed rather sulkingly after it. What did that car have that mine didn't?
Mama came down a few minutes later with Ben & Greg, one running cautiously on the grass, the other sliding and guffawing down the hill (I'll leave you to decide which one did which...). She looked at the car and said she'd try to get it out of there, so the boys and I clambered to the top of the hill and watched her back off the grass and laboriously begin climbing the hill. The tires shrieked in protest the whole way up, and the air smelt of burnt rubber. I'll probably be replacing those soon...
Rhonda made it up the hill and disappeared around the bend, so the boys and I began trudging back home, joking about finding the car in the middle of a neighbor's yard after poking our way along. Ben and Greg slid as much as they could, Greg using my sleeve to pull himself uphill (the kid needs more body mass...seriously) or sometimes just up when he was about to fall. When we reached the house, Mama was still in the car, listening to music. I ran across the grass and, forgetting the icy driveway, started to run across that too. Somehow I didn't fall but just sort of slid breathtakingly, gloriously into the car, catching myself with my hands. I retrieved my bookbag while Mama jokingly complained about me hoarding good music in my car.
Once inside the house, I called Jean (the woman I work for) and explained that our neighborhood was pretty well sealed off and that I was fairly certain that, even if I made it out of my neighborhood, I wouldn't make it into hers (it has some rather nasty hills with sharp turns at the bottom which, if taken wrongly, would land the car in a lake...). She made a few calls and then called me back, saying that someone else could come tonight and take my shift. I thanked her profusely--I didn't want to attempt that drive without Papa--and checked my email. Another blessing: my psychology writing assignment, which I had sort of vainly hoped for more time on, because it's written but I'd like it to be better, had been given a week-long extension.
Now I am sitting at my desk, eating chicken soup and knitting a scarf while clearing up some things for my other work. The day has been crazy, but I find that the craziness gives more marked signs of God's goodness... I have hope for eighteen. :)
Isaiah 43 and 44 are the passages I meditated on especially yesterday, but they've stuck with me through today. If I could I would paste the two chapters in their entirety into this, but I don't think that would accomplish what I want--because I'd like to throw them at everyone I love and have them see even much more clearly and wonderfully than I see it the beauty and love and wonder expressed in these passages. If you've got a moment--for the Word of God, so that's a trick statement--go read Isaiay 43&44, and I pray they'll stick.
I'm quoting just a few verses; bold/italic/emphases added by me and in no wise divinely inspired.
Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant; I formed you; you are my servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel. (Isaiah 44:21-23)
Happy birthday, friend. Or should I say, polar bear with two penguins in attendance? :o) I'm glad you survived driving in this weather...! Thank you for posting those verses.
Another nice thing about ice is that it means no basketball practice or games which means more time for sitting around doing nothing while it's snowing outside :)
Sounds like an eventful day yesterday! :-) I hope you're enjoying the free day today!