THIS IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR… listening and watching the presence of power from the snow plow trucks! It’s amazing! They drive along and where there was once a thick, fresh pile of snow… is now a thin sheet of whiteness… like they erased the chalkboard… to make it easier – just for me – to drive on.

When I hear them coming, I run to the window, like a kid during summertime that hears the ice cream truck coming.

Though I may have just completed shoveling a smooth open space for my vehicle to drive out of the driveway… I can’t help but to find the childlike appreciation for the creation of what (so quickly) appears to be a 2 to 4 foot high barricade around my fortress.

I’m not being sarcastic. These people work at crazy hours, to try to make sure that we can get on the roads safely to wherever we’re trying to go. I imagine it’s a thankless job, but not to me… thank you to all the incredible, powerful snow plow drivers!

Gretchen Caldwell (formerly of Jacksonville, FL)

– Beacon file photo by Ian Johanson