Being Grateful for the Good Things...

We're having rather a huge snow storm out there. Since early this afternoon, the snow has been coming down so fast, the plows can't keep up with it and the roads are covered.

Naturally, being the snow-loving Monkeypants I am, I'm not unhappy about it. I am, in fact, rather grateful. If this snow had come one day sooner, I would be stuck in Chicago, thinking about how much I wished I was home, snowed in and enjoying the snowfall.

So, here I am, somewhat snowed in and loving every minute of the snowfall. I had to shovel my drive when I got home from work and, unfortunately, chances are, by the morning, I shall have to shovel again but for now, I'm comfy in my house.

The only bad part about the snow is that it's going to be a bit of a nuisance for weekend travel. I need to go get my pups from my parent's house and with the snow being as bad as it is, it looks like I won't get to go tomorrow evening as planned. I'm hoping it'll be safe by Saturday. Last weekend when I left to drop off the pups, I thought the roads would be fine. However, it got quite windy and the highway that I was on for ten miles before I got to my parents' had blown over with snow and you couldn't tell the road from the ditch.

Needless to say, it was rather scary. It took every ounce of focus to make sure I stayed on the road.

Thus, I don't really want to have to do that again. I'll just have to play it by ear. I have this secret fear that my dogs will no longer want me when I pick them up, that they'll have had such a great time with their 'grandparents' that they won't like me anymore. Either that or they'll be so furious that I 'ditched' them for a week that they'll have disowned me.

I hope I'm just being silly.

I miss the girls being here and watching them run and play in the snow. It feels strange not to have to get up and open the back door for them every five minutes or have them come in, their bellies saturated with packed snow and their noses covered with the white stuff from where they've been digging.

We're creatures of snow, my dachshunds and I. I take so much pleasure in the fact that they enjoy it and don't have any qualms about running out into it, even when the drifts are as deep as they are. They boldly try to stand on top of them but slowly, their legs start to sink and, with enormous effort, they dolphin their way across to the next drift. It's adorable and it makes me smile because they're so determined.

Tonight, they really would have to have been determined. I think they would have had a hard time getting through the snow. Not only is it deep but it's still coming down, fast and furious. My boss let everyone leave early today. He's nice like that and I appreciate it. It was a little sticky to drive home on and shovelling my driveway took time but there's something tremendously satisfying when you drive into the safety of the garage and know that you're done for the evening and you don't have to go out anymore.

I'm just glad that I'm home, not stuck at an airport wondering when I might be able to get home. It just goes to show, as I said yesterday, that even under unpleasant circumstances, things can always be worse. I find if I look at things that way, it makes me incredibly grateful when good things happen.

I could be stuck at an airport, getting angry because my flight is delayed, delayed, delayed and then...cancelled. I could be on the phone at the airport, venting to my mother about how frustrated I am. I could be having to find a hotel room because there's no way I'm landing in Cincinnati tonight.

But I'm not. I'm home, in my comfy sweats, appreciating the snow. I'm very grateful for that.

Happy Friday!