Last night as the big storm moved in, I was shoveling off the side deck over looking the valley below, when I decided to take a break. As I looked into the night sky, snow was falling, icey type of snow, and some would glitter from my outdoor lamp post in my back yard. It was pretty to see, but I couldn't take any pics as the snow was falling pretty heavy.
This morning I took those pics of the sun trying to make its way through the snow storm, but the snow would win in the end. Though the snow is a pain in the rear, I had missed it when I lived in Virginia. I was up early this morning plowing out the drives so folks could get in the parking lot.
I had a job to deliver in Latrobe PA, just 10 miles away from the farm I grew up on. So just for food to my soul I drove back to see it. I wouldn't have drove back there if I wasn't driving my Hummer as the old road was covered in 14 inches of snow. The house has long been gone, the hill we used to sled ride down still looked inviting as it always did in the winter. It really makes me sad to see time take its toll on such a wonderful place to me. Some of the repairs I did or help do were still there, as if it were done yesterday in my minds eye.
On my drive back home, my mind starting thinking on how time has passed in my life. This year I will be 40 y/o and looking/being back on the farm today has just given more faith in why I moved back here and live a slower calmer life style. I supposed if given a chance to go back and make some changes in my life, perhaps I might as I do have a few regrets. But they are done now, and the only changes I can make better are the ones today and in the future.
I know most of you know that living a more SS life can be like one big rewarding chore, and today it was like more of a gift to live a slower working/rewarding life style.
Now that we are getting snowed in tonight, I have two fires going. The light smell of the smoke in the living room from the wood burning is just as I remembered it as a child. Tonight, I have come in from plowing the snow that fell today and stand by the fire to shake the chill off. Back on the farm, I would stand by the kitchen wood stove to shake the chill off from sled riding. Its remarkable how much you can feel about your life today and reflect back on it when you were a child.
I took up my mothers method of child rearing, as my real father was nothing less than a beast and a barbaric ahole. That sits where its at, my mother was sometimes heavy handed, but not without reason or nor was she quick to use such methods. Mom was a teacher really, she understood we were kids, and kids not only make mistakes, but we were in fact learning about the world. Though I stand 6-2 weigh in at around 270 pounds, it would easy and quick for me to be hot headed and deal with issues like my father. But today, reflecting while driving home, I am proud of myself for being a teacher father. I am sometimes quick to scold the children with firm/nice words, but never scold with name calling/bad words. I also get rewards of watching my children work through problems with the skills I have taught them.
Why all the reflecting today? I dunno, but I do it sometimes and seeing the farm today I think is what triggered my thoughts of reflecting.
If mom were alive today, I wouldn't be the same person. Perhaps I wouldn't have worked so hard to get where I am today, living back home in PA. But I know that she would be pleased with her 14 years of hard work of raising me.
I am making Sunday Moms Snow Day in honor of my mother, to my wife by waiting on her hand/foot and cooking up a storm. Just because hard working moms need a extra day a year to feel special
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