Bad Weather

The other day it snowed unexpectedly. I say unexpectedly, but maybe it was just me not expecting it. In addition to not reading the news, I no longer look at my weather app. I know what you’re thinking: That’s dumb. 

It’s a valid point. The issue is the weather app is wrong more times than it’s right. I’m planning a walk with the dog, for example, and I carefully check the radar for rain. Nothing on the screen, so off we go, but then suddenly, we’re caught in a downpour and huddling like fools under a tree. Lately, I'm taking my chances and planning for the weather the old-school way. I step outside. There’s also good old-fashioned word-of-mouth. 

A patron at the library will remark about the upcoming cold front, or conversely, the warm spell. Someone may have mentioned snow. But if they did, I forgot. We don’t usually get snow this early in the season. What we got wasn’t much. Only a couple of inches, but so bright and blinding, it shocked the dog.  

The trees too seemed shocked by it. Most still have all their leaves, and the snow weighed them down. The tree on our patio was half-crushed and drooping onto the concrete, the branches threatening to snap.

I was still in my robe, but I grabbed a broom and started knocking the snow off, realizing in that same moment, that the snow I was whacking had to go somewhere--me. I saved the tree, but I stumbled back into the house looking like I’d fallen into a snow bank. 

It was cold.

And the cold hung on for most of the week. I had to pull out my heavy coat and dig around for my hat and mittens for our short dog walks, short, because the dog is still wobbily on her legs, and now, the medication they’ve given her has messed with her digestive system. I won’t go into the details. 

She’s sleeping beside me now, after another night pacing and panting. I have never had a pet that I loved this much and I don’t know how we do this part. How do we do this part? She’s older and it’s not entirely unexpected, so why do I feel like I’ve woken up in an unfamiliar world, everything cold and blinding and collapsing under snow?