Disgracing Yoopers Everywhere

Today I had one of those moments when you realize that you’re getting a little too wimpy for your own good.

You see, over the last few years I’ve enjoyed covered parking at work, which has been nice in the winter. (I also park in a garage at home.) However, recently I was moved to another building which does not have covered parking, and today it snowed for the first real time this year. When I left work I discovered that my car was covered in a thin layer of it. This annoyed me greatly, and I found myself grumbling to myself as I retrieved my scraper. I thought about how unfair life had become now that I'd lost my precious covered parking.

This lead to the anti-Eureka moment, which was triggered when I remembered that I had been born and raised in the U.P., a place where you learn to brush off your car when you’re still in diapers, and where you can operate a snowblower by the time you’re in kindergarten. I then realized that I had become a disgrace to Yoopers everywhere.

A Yooper walks through knee deep powder each morning, looking at the random mounds of snow dotting the landscape, wondering which one contains their vehicle, and then digging exploratory tunnels into the most likely candidates until said automobile is found. Then they have to spend twenty minutes digging themselves out with brushes, shovels, brooms, or whatever is handy at the time.

And here I was complaining about brushing a thin layer of snow off of my windshield that could probably be removed with a really good sneeze.

It was truly a sobering moment, and it got me thinking. Maybe I should take a vacation this winter, head up to the U.P., and spend my time shoveling snow for free, just to toughen me back up a bit. It would be a good way to reconnect with my roots and remember who I truly am.

Then again, I hear Florida is nice this time of year.