Winter has arrived here in Colorado, after burying Washington state and is now on its march east across the country. For my first-ever diary entry, I wanted to share with you a tale of Karma and invite you to help make your part of the country a little better as the weather becomes tough for so many.
The storm arrived Tuesday evening in the Denver area, and the city was slow getting their snow clearing underway meaning that traffic across the evening rush was slow, accidents were plentiful, and ice caused many people to spin their wheels.
My ride home took about two hours. I have a new all-wheel drive Escape, and this was my first real experience in snow with it. It performed marvelously, and I was able to drive up hills and through trouble spots that caused others to stack up. On one hill, there were several people who were trying to get their rear-wheel and front-wheel drive cars up it. (more down the slope)
After driving up the hill around the less fortunate folks, I parked and walked down the hill so that I could push some cars up to where they could drive on their own. I was able to help about five or six cars before getting cold and worn out, but I was pleased every time a car was able to accelerate on its own and the driver honked and waved as they moved on to home and hearth.
The next evening I was able to finally shovel my front walk, but I wasn't able to clear my driveway. The next evening (Thursday - the extra long commutes on icy roads were starting to get to me), I drove up a neighbor's driveway to help it look like someone was living there (they moved away), and when I got to my driveway, I was greeted with a wonderful sight. Someone had brought a snow blower over and had cleared my driveway and walk to my porch. Immediately I thought of Karma - I had helped people the first night of the storm, and had just helped my neighbors, and someone had helped me out by taking care of something I didn't have the time and energy for.
I've looked around my neighborhood and not noticed anyone else who had that same pattern of treadmarks from a snowblower, so I'm still in the dark about who came to my assistance. Others still have snowy walks and driveways, so I was specifically picked for assistance. I'd like to think it's someone who I've helped in the past, or who may be one of the fans of my Basset Hounds (just lost one to cancer a couple of weeks ago), but I feel that I have a good neighborhood since neighbors can help each other out.
As the storm (and subsequent ones) bury your neighborhoods this season, consider what you might be able to do for your neighbors. You might help them through physical efforts like pushing them out of being stuck or shoveling their walk, or maybe offer them a hot drink or cookies if you see them out working hard. Take that first step, and maybe Karma will come back to help you out. Whether you call it Karma, paying it forward, or are (like me) a fan of the old movie "Meet John Doe", I hope your winter season is one where you can have a nice, friendly neighborhood like mine.