While our vacation in the mountains had its downsides, it was very enjoyable. I wrote about spending three hours digging us out so our car could leave, and that might sound like a long time or like I was complaining.
I didn’t stand there and chop up ice and shovel it away for the entire three hours. Much of that time, I was inside the car with the motor running and the heater and defrosters blasting to thaw out the car, so I could open the other doors and see out of all the windows and mirrors.
But I did spend probably 45 minutes with the axe and shovel and another 45 outside chipping and scraping away at the ice that had sealed up the car.
But I have to say – at the risk of sounding immodest – I thought it was pretty cool that I could do any of that. I mean, the last time I shoveled snow, Jimmy Carter was president.
Seriously.
So clearly, I’m not a kid anymore. And while I still feel like I have the same strength and stamina that I did when I was 20 years old, I know that I don’t. Those things decline as you age. That’s unavoidable. Not to mention that I don’t have the upper body strength (or testosterone) that I used to have.
I readily admit that when I walked out and saw the pile of snow/ice between our car and the road, I had a moment of doubt. Like, “I know I have to do this, and I don’t know if I can.”
But I did, and it made me feel really good to get us out of there and down the icy mountainside. And feeling good about doing it made the whole thing an adventure rather than a misadventure.
And that’s the news from Lake Woebegone.
