Storms At Last
We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. The winter storms are finally arriving in Southern California. The earth has been so so thirsty. When we hike in our mountains, our boots get dusty because there’s no moisture on the trails we hike on. So I am happy and excited about the current batch of storms coming through finally moistening our Earth. It looks like we got a few inches of snow on the ground, which makes me happy to know our trees are getting the moisture they desperately needed…only that I’m not there.
When our mountain house was our vacation home or when we didn’t have to go anywhere in the pandemic, I was always excited about the snow. Today the snow in the mountains has a whole different dimension for me. If I’m working in the city as I have for the last couple of months, I can’t always go home whenever I want because roads get treacherous when we have weather. Not only it’s kinda scary to drive on the icy road — although I have full confidence in our Subaru, we also have to take the possibility of “snow bunny traffic” into consideration.
In recent years, our area has become so popular for snow play that sometimes the 2-lane highway gets backed up from the freeway all the way to the entrance to Mt. Pinos for 12 miles especially on the weekend. CHP sets up a check-point for chains near the off-ramp from I-5 freeway. When it’s snowing, they won’t let you pass without chains even with our resident pass on the windshield.
So my current predicament. Winter storms vs. life in the city. Honestly, it is an inconvenience for sure; AND I think I’m actually handling it well. I am so fortunate and grateful to receive generosity and kindness of friends as I manage to find my refuge in the city when I need one. Obviously the question is hoovering around in my mind whether to consider finding a crashing pad in the city. While I can assimilate the city pace for a week or two at a time as long as I’m focusing on specific projects, I need to go back to the mountains as often as I can even for a quick recharge. I love the fact that I get to connect to nature so closely everyday if I want up in the mountains. Connecting has become a very important part of my life.
Just as we landed on this life in the mountains by Providence looking like a total accident, I trust the answer will either reveal itself unexpectedly or I will be guided to the next move gently. Learning to live my life AS IS — storm or no storm — on a daily basis is so challenging, but I actually find a little bit of joy in knowing that I don’t have to figure it out by myself today.