The Softness of a Major Winter Storm in Chicago
Lightly, lightly fell the snow. And all through the night, like soft fleecy wisps, it gathered and gathered until it coated and covered the streets and sidewalks of Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood with a shimmering tableau of white.
I woke up this morning to the clarion of my 10-month-old son’s hunger. It was between 6 and 6.30 am, and the snow outside was between 8 and 10 inches in my northside of Chicago neighborhood. After setting Lucas up with 6 ounces - just to cut the harsh edge off his empty gullet - I set out to tackle the snow.
First thing’s first came the back steps. Armed with a broom I did a perfunctory cleaning and headed toward my primary objective of clearing the sidewalks that edge our corner home in the 60660 zip.
“But won’t it bother the neighbors?” asked my wife.
“Not as much as slogging through a foot of snow.”
(The beautiful thing about a winter storm is the participant’s ability to augment and expand upon its severity. So with each retelling the mercury plummets by an additional 3 degrees or the snowfall deepens by 2 inches. So now the 10 inches became a foot!)
Having created a path down the back steps to the garage I fired up the snowblower (electric start is such a convenience) and started etching my path through 14 inches down the side of the building and to the front, judiciously stopping at the property line since my new neighbor has contracted with a service that clears his walks (and not mine).
After more than 20 minutes but less than 30 one man’s tilting against still-falling-snow had led, if just for a moment, to cleared sidewalks at the corner of Rosemont and Wayne. And with this effort of diminishing the effect of some 16 inches of snow did I feel at least a fleeting sense of accomplishment for assisting my fellow Edgewater-ites to more easily make their way to morning appointments, school, or work.
Something we hear bandied about when it comes to having your own place is the amorphous idea of “the pride of ownership.” A day like today, with great gobs of cotton candy falling from above, is a perfect example of this pride.
I could let the 18 inches of snow that fell rest until sometime in March when next we expect the thermometer to ascend beyond freezing, thus letting nature take care of nature. But in the meantime the outside of my home would look awful and I would by default imperil both my neighbors and my family when it came to trying to traverse the sidewalk.
I suppose if you view home ownership as an investment, this would be the equivalent of bad business. Plus it would not be in keeping with a kernel of my personal philosophy that we teach people how to treat us. By clearing my walkway of two feet of snow I am establishing with my fellow Chicagoans that I expect them too to clear their walks and thus engender a very local version of the social compact.
By the way, this weekend’s open houses will be:
2214 W Cullom - 11a-1p - Sunday
726 W Addison, 3 - 11-1 - Sunday
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