there was a blizzard in january of 1981 that shut down the u of m for the first time in 20 years. the snow was 2 feet deep and i was 16 blocks from home. every step was a high step, no sidewalks were shoveled and no streets plowed. i sweated into my scalp and the scarf around my neck and froze my nose and toes at the same time.
when i finally got home i found out i needed to trudge back up to dinkytown to pick up a prescription at grey's drugstore. i turned around and waded 16 blocks back and then 16 blocks forward and finally i was home.
it was a third floor apartment in an old brownstone with a gorgeous view of the world, and it was especially perfect on a night like this - snow swirling around streetlights, cars tiptoeing down southeast 4th street.
best of all it had a great big claw foot tub and i loved that tub. that night i filled it full and hot. i had plenty of bubbles and a cold martini,and a black and white tv featuring a great espisode of m*a*s*h. i sunk into that tub glad the trudging was over, munching on a gin soaked olive and feeling grateful for rest and soothing gentle bathtub waves.
twenty seven years later it is thanksgiving eve and the pies are done. so is the cranberry sauce and
all is well.
we've been trudging for a long time. illness and death, broken hearts, nursing homes and broken bones, so many funerals, too many good byes. surgery all around, sign up now. keep going, just keep going.
mike's dad, who grew up in deep snow used to tell us
"kids, sometimes you just have to get out and push."
we've been pushing. pushing hard and worrying just because there was nothing else productive to do.
the pushing and pulling and breaking is done for now, and we are so grateful as we sit here sniffing those pies.
storms pass and snow melts and cars start.
ya gotta believe, right?
happy thanksgiving
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