Time to Give In, Time to Give Up
Sometimes the uncontrollable is just what we need
On a Sunday morning late last year I padded downstairs to the blogatorium, hoping to transcribe a groggy thought quickly vanishing in the trailing edge of a predawn dream.
After writing for seven or eight minutes, an odd stillness suddenly caught my attention. Glancing out the window offsetting my desk, the reason showed big and white in the sky.
Snow.
Big, airy, flakes, drifting silently down, but gaining speed with the cold and the wind. Two inches on the ground, with much more to come, said the weatherman, with freezing temperatures to continue for days.
Well. I had sat for minutes oblivious to the Ruling Event of the day — and of the following ten days, it would turn out.
Suddenly, all bets were off. I rejoiced inwardly at the possibility that a looming, seven-hour volunteer stint at an obligatory social event would be canceled.
It was canceled. Everything was canceled. It was the beginning of Portland’s biggest snowfall in 40 years.
I rejoiced outwardly, joining the kids in their delight at the game-changing weather. Time to play in the snow.
A city frozen. Schools and workplaces closed on Monday. People, and plans, on ice.
On Tuesday, schools reopened, but another flurry came, and on Wednesday, we were back home to stay, through Christmas and beyond, rediscovering Scrabble, cocoa, and popcorn. Outside, pedestrians and cross-country skiers happily ruled the streets. Offleash dogs romped between the legs of kids breathlessly dragging sleds, tubes, and saucers toward the hill at 31st and Harrison. The ungovernable Event that compelled us all to abandon our plans now brought us together. Strangers greeted each other in the streets, with flushed, smiling faces.
The almighty Mother seemed to be saying to her children, “Okay, you all had Important Plans, but give ‘em up. Time to remember that there’s something bigger than you operating here — namely me. So give in. Give up. Abandon yourself to today. Go play in the snow.”
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