So here’s the story. It started snowing this weekend. A lot. The weather people were calling it the blizzard of ’08. I was skeptical, really. My idea of a blizzard is Little House on the Prairie proportions, the kind that gives you frostbite in 5 seconds and you can’t see two feet in front of you and the snow drifts cover houses.

Well, this is Ohio. Friday afternoon it came down to the inevitable – shoveling the driveway. Now, I’m perfectly capable of shoveling, it’s just that I never have to do it. I have a big brother. He does all the manly things like mowing the lawn, hacking the bushes, shoveling the snow, killing the spiders, etc.

But this time there was a problem. He was gone.

Well, this was only a few inches and like I said, I’m perfectly capable of shoveling. It was hard work, but I felt rather pleased with accomplishing the job. I snapped a few pictures of my handiwork and shut the door.

Yeah, guess what. It kept snowing. By the time I stuck my head out the door late Saturday morning, everything was covered – deep. I guess they were right about the blizzard after all. At first glance it looked like maybe 6 inches. Until I started scooping and realized the awful truth; the entire driveway was covered in over 10 inches of snow. TEN INCHES. (Find a ruler and count them.) I can’t even remember the last time I saw that much snow.

Did I mention that my brother was gone?

I groaned inwardly. Or maybe out loud. The measly 4 inches the day before were suddenly very measly indeed. So I shoveled. And shoveled. And shoveled. The piles of snow got higher and higher, the shovel got heavier and heavier, my arms ached worse and worse, and the snow kept…snowing.

Scoop, lift, carry, heave, toss, repeat. I miss my brother. Scoop, lift, carry, heave, toss, repeat. A little finch in a nearby tree chortled loudly with Spring abandon. Either he’d forgotten to check the forecast or this was God’s way of cheering me on. I smiled and took it as the latter. Still, I started to wish things like the boy walking down the street would offer to finish the job – for a price even. Then I realized he wasn’t any bigger than me. I kept scooping. I saw a neighbor forging a path through the sidewalk with a snowblower and hoped he was coming to my rescue. He turned around and went the other direction. I kept scooping.

Over 2 hours later, I heaved the last shovelful with great relief and equally great exhaustion. My heart was pumping like I’d run a few too many miles and my arms were dead, but I had done what I had never done before. And never want to do again, if I can help it. The total snow count for the Blizzard of ’08 came to 20.4 inches. More than Ohio has seen in 98 years.

And did I tell you that my brother was GONE?!

It stopped snowing Saturday night. My brother came home yesterday. He marveled at the big white walls of snow along our driveway. “Yeah, I built those with my own two hands.” I told him, relating the story in all its (now) hilarious torture. He laughed. And that’s just fine.

Because the weekend my brother deserted me, I discovered something else – bragging rights. 10 inches deep. Oh yeah.

- friday night -

- saturday morning -