I often struggle with being in the moment. I mean, I’m better at it now than when I was in my twenties or thirties but it can still be a struggle. We were recently in Shaver Lake and had received much more snow than the forecast had called for. It had been snowing off and on the entire week but starting Thursday night into Saturday morning it pretty much snowed non-stop. We were supposed to leave Saturday morning by 10 am because that’s when our cabin rental was up. 10 am came and went and no plows had come down our street. I did all I could that was in my control. We had our stuff ready to go in case a plow came, and I had kept the Jeep dug out from the snow, again, to be ready in case the plow came.
Sammy was getting frustrated because he had a flag football game on Sunday that he did not want to miss. He was frustrated enough to go out and attempt to use his snow shovel to dig a path for the Jeep. Nice idea from a 10 year old but clearly not feasible. I didn’t want to disappoint him but what could I do? Annie did not have her work laptop and she needed to be able to work on Monday. At this point Saturday morning I did not know how long we would be stuck due to our road but also due to 168, which is the road in and out of Shaver Lake. We had been hearing mixed reports on whether it was even open.
So, I had been doing all in my control but I wasn’t enjoying the snow falling outside. I wasn’t enjoying the mountains anymore, which is my favorite place to be. I was pacing around. I would go outside to see if I could hear any plows. I would keep the Jeep free from the chains of the evil snow. Finally, I got frustrated enough that I put my jacket on and grabbed a vodka soda and headed out to walk around the neighborhood to see what I could find.
What I found was that all the roads between our road and 168 were plowed. What’s up with that? I went down another side road and came across a guy driving a Dodge truck with chains on all four tires and a plow blade on the front of his truck. I asked him if he could come clear our road but if he couldn’t I understood, he had a list of shit to plow and I get it. That said, he said yes, that’s his job and that he’d be there in 20-ish minutes. I called Annie and headed back to the cabin. Long story short, he showed up and cleared the road and within 20-ish minutes we were on our way down the mountain leaving Shaver Lake behind us.
That Saturday was another life lesson for me. That drive down the mountain and the days since we got home I have thought about how I need to let things go. I need to relax and be in the moment. I need to only concern myself with the things I have actual control over and let everything else go. If I had done that I could have enjoyed that Saturday a little bit more and possibly had one more night in the mountains. However, my son wanted to play football and he got to. Annie needed to get home to her work laptop, and she was able to do so. So, in the end, it all worked out the way it was supposed to but I still need to breathe a bit more and as they say, don’t sweat the small things.
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