A Snow Lesson

This last weekend I was at my parent’s house, where I came face to face with a memento of one of the greatest failures of my life. It was a cheap, blue snow shovel, and when I saw it, I hung my head in shame.

It’s easiest to start at the beginning. I was an intern working in the Twin Cities during my junior year of college. It was late in the year, sometime in November or December. The forecast called for snow, the first storm of the year. I don’t remember how much snow was to come, but it would be a decent amount for the area, but nothing a native Yooper like me would be afraid of. In fact, I found myself chuckling as the city began to buckle down for what I considered to be a small amount of snow. What’s the big deal? I laughed to myself. It’s just a little bit of snow!

I didn’t have to worry. All Yoopers keep a shovel in the trunk of their car year round, so you were always prepared to dig your way out of any situation. No problem! You won’t catch me freaking out with everybody else! To say I was smug would have been an understatement.

I don’t remember the exact sequence of events, but I do remember a lot of snow starting to come and me opening up the trunk of my car and seeing that I hadn’t brought my shovel with me after all. It was sitting in my parent’s garage up in Michigan, doing me absolutely no good.

So I stopped at Target on my way home from work, along with a whole passel of other people. As soon as I walked through the door there were rows of cheap, blue shovels all lined up for people to buy in a panic. They should have put up a sign that said, “Hey morons who aren’t prepared! Pay out of your nose for shovels here!” And so I did. I stood in line with everybody else to spend way too much money on a pathetic, cheap shovel. It was not fun. I had let down Yoopers everywhere, as I was unprepared for snow, and I was ashamed.

I kept that blue shovel for quite some time, but after a while I got sick of the memories it triggered and so I donated it to my father. He still has it, and that is what I saw this weekend. Ugh. All I can hope for, I guess, is that I learned a lesson.

That reminds me. I probably should check my trunk.