Dear_Sis@the_end_of_my_day.calm©
Two sisters and
their friends, share the joys of Larchmont motherhood
through E-mail.
by
Val Estabrook
 Date:
2/21/03
To: Kim
From: Val
Subject: SNOW…the good, the bad & the snuggly
“If everything would just stop….”
That’s where I’m at just last week. Always
thinking about the kids…March fundraiser… report
cards,..April fundraiser…board meetings…book
club…PTA, PTSA, CIC…the ‘Your Kids
and Drugs’ meeting…the’Your Kids
and Sex’ meeting…yoga classes I continue
to miss. Mind keeps going back to work and family and
diving stocks and soaring taxes and duct tape.
Please stop, I begged…and so it did. It began
to snow. Snow. Perfect time to go north…to fly
south…to fall back to sleep. To ski…to
swim…to sunburn. Of course, my family did none
of that stuff. Well, your nephews did earn a sunburn,
but not from skiing or sunning but rather from shoveling…and
not even our own driveway. You think you’ve got
problems with flooding (see Don't
you just love it when your house floods?) Be
glad you’re not me…I took a family vacation.
Drove Saturday to Martha’s Vineyard. Had lovely
familiar feeling crossing Bourne Bridge, Realized that
for first time in a long time I wasn’t holding
my breath while crossing over a river…wasn’t
ever alert, scouting for insane driver/terrorist in
neighboring SUV.
Crossing over on the ferry, my head filled w/dreams
of the Island, dreams of mediocre coffee from my favorite
landmark general store, old films from the tiny video
section like “Five Easy Pieces” and “Gladiator” (James’s
choice)… nature trails…warm fires….
cold chardonnay…heavily worn books…needlepoint
never finished…. painting…. endless family
games of Hearts and Scrabble and slow cooking dinners
like pot roast and Trader Joe’s Chile (obviously
I brought all groceries up with us in the car). Glad
we brought supplies. Over two feet of snow eventually
fell on our little island, which was good news to Kyle
who asked, ”Mom, this means the nature walk is
out, right?”
Snow is lovely and just keeps coming. Manage one last
drive to general store. Buy milk, newspaper, some pecans.
Consider buying a flashlight but not crazy about the
color. Jimmy, friendly guy at the register, says the
snow will keep falling for 24 hours. I add frozen bread
to the pile (which when later thawed still felt frozen).
Contemplate buying five more brick loaves. Notice there’s
been no run on duct tape, kind of comforting. As he’s
adding up the bill, Jimmy tells me freezing rain will
follow the snow. His words echo as I struggled across
parking lot and rising snow drifts. Suffer quick flashback
to snow boots I left in Larchmont.
Freezing rain? I turn right around and fight my way
back to store to buy bacon…video rental of “ALIVE!”… 6
tape bonus set of “SURVIVOR”, the first
season…$65 game of Chinese Checkers (for when
the power goes out)…15 individually wrapped cheese
food slices (easy to divide fairly among 5 when rations
get low and passions get ugly). Jimmy adds up my second
purchase of the last eight minutes and says, smiling, “That’s
all you need for a blizzard.” “Blizzard?” I
question. “Blizzard’s not a blizzard till
you got a consistent 40 to 60 mile an hour breeze and
that’s just what we got here,” he adds. “Breeze?” Now
Jimmy shows a side of himself I hadn’t noticed
before as he queries, “Did you hear about the
tidal wave that’s coming?”
Climbing back in the car I ask Joe if he thinks I
should go back buy anything else from Jimmy. Joe turns
away from me and says nothing. He pushes the’snow’ button
next to gearshift. Don’t know what that activates
but sure makes us feel better.
Back at house, and over next 36 hours, we watch road,
driveway, car, deck, balcony, fences and rolling hillsides
level out under one snowy blanket. It’s lovely
out there. Purposely excluded from that description
are the interior parameters of our residence where
it’s not so lovely, where three teenagers reside
(Kyle’s girlfriend joined us on this trip). After
being snowed in with three kids for three days, I have
some basic questions for you:
1. How many times can you watch “Gladiator” in
a single day?
2. How many continuous hours can son and girlfriend
remain in some type of physical contact, innocent though
it may be?
3. How do you carry on without coffee for three days?
4. Can 5 people play Chinese Checkers at the same time,
and if so, how long can a player scream at the other
4 participants during said player’s turn?
5. How long will it take 5 people, with one shovel
(the kind you use in garden) to clear 3ft. of snow
off 90 yards of a driveway and road that the plows
can’t even clear?
Sounds like another SAT test
(see 'What
were your verbal and math scores?'). You have
till Spring break to answer.
On the drive home I woke from a dream…thought
I was in Gary, Indiana again. It was just Hartford.
Looking outside, through caked road salt, at smoke
stacks. Remembered our adventure. So thrilled when
hard work, cooperation, help from neighbors, borrowed
shovels and broken backs had finally cleared our path.
We had done it. We were free to drive home. Now the
thrill of victory has almost worn off. Thinking,. here
we go again.
Can’t wait till that next blizzard…that
next tidal wave.
XXOO Val
Love to hear how your family spent the February break.
Send a few sentences my way at val@larchmontgazette.com. I’d
write more but I really need to rest. Vacations exhaust
me. Is that true for you as well?
XO Val
Val and Kim Illustrations by Larchmont artist
Sue Girardi. "Ann" courtesy of Snobhollow.net "Barbara"
from : www.acn.net.au/ebusiness/
manual/chapter6.htm
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