BEACH HOUSE

“Well, I've always wanted to own a beach house.” I sighed as I swept another pile of sand from the living room floor. “I just thought when I did, it would be closer to the beach.”

“Hey, you haven't slipped once this winter! Have you?” Steven handed me the dust pan. “If I didn't sand the steps and sidewalk as much as I did you would have been skating to your car every morning.”

“I know.” I carried the filled dust pan over to the trash but before I dumped it out I held it out for Steven to see. “Oh look, I even got a few pine needles from the Christmas tree!”

Steven had to laugh. “I've got to say that for a fake Christmas tree that thing looses more needles than a real one!”

I took the broom and dust pan into our bedroom. “I can't believe there's sand in here too!” I began sweeping. “Everyone takes there shoes off at the front door, so how's it getting all the way in here? It's driving me nuts!” I'd already swept a little pile into the middle of the floor.

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea.”

“Can you please sweep the steps and sidewalk today so we can stop dragging the sand in?” I asked as I took the filled dust pan into the kitchen to throw away.

Steven looked out the window. “There's still snow on the ground. Do you want to take that chance ?”

I looked over at him, not feeling very amused. “Yes, I'm willing to take that chance. I'm tried of walking around barefoot and feeling sand under my feet!”

“Hey,” Steven started to laugh. “Aren't you the one who said you can't wait for the time of year when you can feel the sand between your toes?”

“Not in the house!” I handed him the broom.

Steven shook his head. “I don't need the broom.”

“Oh, come on!” I cried. “Please do the walks for me!”

“I am.” He went to the closet and took out his jacket. “I'm just not using the broom. That takes too long.”

I followed him to the front door, careful not to step outside on the sandy steps. “How are you going to get rid of the sand?”

I peeked around the door jam and watched as he pulled up the garage door, went inside and came out with the leaf blower. “It'll only take a minute using this.”

I watched as he blew the sand off the driveway and sidewalk. He stopped and smiled at me. “See, only seconds!”

I sighed. “That's just great...I spent the last twenty minutes just doing the living room and our bedroom! I still have the rest of the house to sweep!”

Our son, Alex came into the room. “What are you two up to?”

“Sand removal!” Steven called from the front steps. “I'm doing the outside and your Mom's taking care of inside.”

I looked over at Alex. “Yeah, it's been real fair.” I pointed to Steven. “He's done in a minute...” I held up my broom. “and I'm working on mine for the next hour!”

Steven smiled as he held up the leaf blower. “Let me inside and I could have it done in no time!”

When I hesitated, Alex looked over at me. “We're you just thinking about it?” he started to laugh.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have to admit, for a second, I was.”

ENDLESS WINTER

“I can't.” I sighed, “I just can't.” My forehead was leaned against the glass at the back door. Outside the snow was coming down harder by the hour.

Steven came up behind me. “What are you up to today?”

I looked outside. “Clearly nothing.” My bird feeder was swinging in the wind, not a bird in sight.

“Don't you usually like to bake on snow days?” Steven looked over at the counter and picked up the box of cake mix. “Oh, spice cake!” he put the box down. “Alex's favorite.”

“I know, but all this snow is making me fat.” I sighed, I turned around and went over to the refrigerator and got the eggs. “It wasn't so bad at the beginning of winter. I felt like I had some time to drop the pounds before spring.” I looked down at my oversized sweatshirt and baggy sweatpants. “But bathing suit season is just around the corner and I'm running out of time. I can't afford another snow day!” I pulled a bowl out of the cabinet and got the mixer out of the drawer.

“So make the cake for Alex.” Steven reached into the silverware drawer and got me a spoon. “No one says you have to eat a piece.”

I looked over at Steven and rolled my eyes. “We're snowed in and a cake will be sitting on the counter in about an hour. I don’t have superhuman powers!” I poured the mix into the bowl, adding the eggs and applesauce then turned on the mixer. “I'm going to wind up getting bored and eating cake.” I sighed as I filled a pan with the mix and popped it into the oven. “I might as well resign myself that I won't be wearing a bathing suit this summer.”

Steven looked confused. “I haven't seen you in a bathing suit in years.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I'm not really a beach person, and when I do go I never take my coverup off.” I shook my head. “But that's not the point!”

Steven looked out the window, the snow was still coming down. “Well, maybe you'd like to help me shovel out.” He turned around and smiled at me. “It's a great workout!”

“Fine.” I sighed. I set the timer. “As soon as the cake is done I'll come out and help.”

“I'm not going out there now.” Steven laughed. “I'll wait until it stops.”

“But that's not suppose to happen until tomorrow morning! How am I suppose to work off the cake I'm going to be eating today?”

“I don't know what to tell you...” Steven shook his head as he went into his office.

I decided maybe a few sit-ups and squats were in order while I waited for the cake to be done. I pulled out my yoga mat and turned on the television. As I did a few stretches my show was interrupted for a snowstorm update. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. “Are you kidding me!” I yelled at the weather forecaster.

My son Alex came into the room. “What's wrong?” he sounded concerned.

“There could be another snowstorm coming after this one!” I cried.

“It's spring.” Alex patted me on the shoulder. “They melt the next day.”

“That's not the point!” I cried.

Alex turned his head and took a quick sniff. “Is that a spice cake I'm smelling?”

“It is.” I sighed. “And apparently I'll be making brownies for the next one.” I complained as I started to do my squats and watched the forecast.

DAFFODIL DELIGHT

We were having our third Nor'easter in less then two weeks. My husband Steven and I were outside shoveling and clearing off our cars when I noticed a little burst of yellow sticking out of the snow.

“Oh, no!” I called as I dropped my shovel and ran over to what I knew was a daffodil. I leaned down to brush off the heavy snow hoping the weight hadn't snapped it's stem. “I think it's okay!” I called as I checked the stem and could see it was bent but hadn't snapped.

“That's great.” Steven called as he was pushing snow off my car with a broom. “I was really worried about the flowers.” he said in a deadpan voice. He grunted with the effort it took to get the snow off the roof of the car.

I began wandering around the front yard looking to dig out any other flowers that were in distress. “I hope they've all made it.”

“I hope I don't throw my back out trying to clear off these cars.” Steven called back.

“I'll be there to help you in a minute.” I called back. I saw some green leaves sticking out of the snow and began clearing it away, hoping not to find the flowers smashed to the ground. This particular bunch hadn't bloomed yet and it was just a hint of yellow popping out from the green.

“This bed seems to be fine!” I called back.

“Once again...thrilled!” Steven called back in his deadpan voice.

I'd made my way to the south side of the house and could see the flower bed there hadn't fared as well. “Oh man...” I got down on my knees and saw that a few of the flowers stems had been snapped. There was nothing else I could do but pick them. Looking at the two bright yellow blooms against the white of the snow made me smile. There was something about daffodils in the snow that just made me happy. Spring was only days away and even though I was shoveling snow I was now holding proof that warmer days were just around the corner.

Walking back around the side of the house I went over to Steven in the driveway and handed him the two flowers. “Thanks for clearing off my car.” I said as I picked up my shovel and began scooping the snow off the sidewalk.

Steven stood holding the flowers and looking at me. “Thanks.” he said leaning the broom against the car.

“Why don't you go inside and put them in water and I'll finish up the sidewalk.” I just had a few more feet to finish and we'd both be done.

When I got inside I stomped my boots to knock off the snow and hung my coat on the door knob of the closet to dry. Coming into the kitchen, Steven had put the daffodils in a small vase and had them sitting in the middle of the dining room table. He'd made me a cup of tea and handed me the warm mug. “Hopefully that's the last snow of the season!” he said as he sat down at the table across from me.

“Right now I don't care if it snows again.” I gently touched one of the petals that was still cold from the snow. “Because this means spring is already here! That's all that matters to me!”

THUNDERSNOW

I walked into the house stomping my feet to get the snow off my boots. “I'm home!” I called as I brushed off the heavy snow from my coat.

“You're home early.” Alex said as he came out to meet me.

“They closed the school early.” I hung my coat on the back of the chair to let it dry. “I can't believe how hard it's coming down!”

Just then a flash of bright light lit up our front window. “What was that?” Alex and I moved closer to the window when we heard to rumble of thunder. It seemed to go on for a very long time.

We looked at one another. “Have you ever heard of a thunder storm and snow storm at the same time!” Alex asked as we heard another rumble in the distance.

“No!” I shook my head. “But it's amazing!”

I picked up my phone and went to Google to look it up. “It's got a name!” I cried. “It's called Thundersnow.”

Alex laughed. “Wow! They really used their imagination naming it!”

I kept scanning the feed. “It says that it's a really rare occurrence.” I looked over at Alex and shrugged my shoulder. “Well, that has to be true because I'm old and I've never heard it before.”

Another long rumble could be heard in the distance when my husband walked in the room. “I'm glad they let you out early.”

“It's thundersnowing!” I cried. “You know how much I love a summer thunder storm but thundersnow is really amazing!”

We all looked out the window as the nor'easter blew heavy snow that was coating the trees in a thick blanket of white.

“It's really is beautiful.” I said.

Alex and Steven both looked at me. “You hate the snow!” Steven said. “You groan every time they mention snow in the forecast!”

I held up my finger to stop him for a moment. “That's winter snow.” I said. “Everybody hates winter snow. But this is soon to be spring snow.”

Alex shook his head and laughed. “What's the difference?”

I looked back out the window to see a car slowing making its way past our house. “Winter snow is depressing because it seems to stay forever.” I explained. “But soon to be spring snow, falls and starts to melt right away.” I turned around to look at them both as I clapped my hands together excited at my new discovery. “But now that I know there's a chance for thundersnow in the spring I'm going to say it's my new favorite weather event!”

Alex shook his head. “No matter what time of year it comes, you still have to shovel it.”

“Not if it's sunny and warmer out tomorrow. It'll just melt!” I cried.

Alex smiled “You heard her!” he looked at his Dad. “No more shoveling for us this winter!” Alex began walking to his room.

“Wait! I said if it was sunny out tomorrow!” I called after him.

“Did I just hear more thunder?” he called back to me before he closed his bedroom door.

“What!” I raced back to the window stopping the listen. “Ahh, man. I missed it.” I looked over at Steven.

Steven shook his head. “You didn't miss it.” he started to laugh. “Alex was just trying to distract you from the shoveling conversation.”

“Oh, he's good.” I whispered under my breath.

BLOWING IN THE WIND

I'd decided to do some Spring shopping on my computer, when Steven walked into the room.

“What are you up to today?” he asked.

“I'm glad you asked!” I turned my computer screen around for him to see. “What do you think of these for our back porch?” I'd picked out a beautiful set of wind chimes and wanted Steven to see them before I downloaded them into my cart.

Steven began shaking his head. “Nope, no way...not going to happen.”

“No?” I started to laugh. “Why don't you tell me how you really feel?”

He sat down next to me on the couch. “I'm serious. The neighbors will hate us.”

“Oh come on!” I turned the screen back to facing me. “People use them for meditation! Depending on the tone you get, it can be really soothing.”

“Not for me.” He got up and went into the kitchen. “They're like fingernails on a chalk board.” he called over his shoulders.

I wasn't ready to be swayed. I started searching for wind chime videos I could play for him. The first one I came to was a higher pitched chime. He came back into the living room and handed me a bottle of water then took a sip from his. “Thanks.” I placed my bottle on the coffee table then turned up the sound. A soft tinkling began to play. “Isn't that pretty?”

Our son Alex walked into the room. “What's that sound?”

“Your Mom wants to get wind chimes for the back porch.” Steven looked over at Alex and cringed as my chimes kept playing.

“It sounds like someones searching for something in the silverware drawer.” Alex said cringing at the sound too.

“It does not!” I cried.

Steven tilted his head and listened for a moment. “You're right.” he looked over at Alex. “That's exactly what it sounds like.”

“You two are unbelievable.” I began searching for another video. I found one that had long pipes that would give a deeper sound and hit play. As the deep tones filled the room I could see neither of my guys were impressed.

“Sounds like someone's banging two pipes together.” Steven said as Alex nodded in agreement.

“Oh, come on!” I cried. “To me it sounds a little like the Tibetan singing bowls.”

“The what?” Alex looked confused.

I went to YouTube, pulled up a video and hit play. The sound of the bowls being struck by the mallet filled the room. “Doesn't that just make you feel like taking a deep breath and relaxing?” I took and deep breath, slowly exhaling and really could feel myself feeling calmer. “See?” I smiled at them.

Steven shook his head. “That would drive me nuts.”

Alex nodded his head in agreement. “Me too! I like silence when I'm trying to relax.”

“Okay fine.” I closed the lid on my laptop and picked up my phone. “But you can't stop me from playing the YouTube videos of them when I'm out on the porch.”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “That seems fair.”

Alex nodded in agreement. “Hey, the next nice day I'll even sit out there with you.”

“You will?” I thought maybe I'd finally turned him to my way of thinking.

“Sure!” Alex started to laugh. “As long as you use your ear buds!”

Even I had to laugh at that one.