8″ Is Something Indeed
This post is going to start with some geeking out.
I was going back and forth on Twitter with another Maine girl about attending a weekly Tweet-Up at a local pub in Portland. I noted to her that I was a little worried cause it was supposed to snow (as of Saturday it was the blizzard of the century) and I live about 10 miles away. I may have a pretty hardcore 4×4 Jeep but that doesn’t mean I go crashing into snowbanks for funsies.
Her response to me was “Oh bah. 8″ is nothing”
Knowing the conversation was about snow, it totally made sense to us. However another person from Florida read the exchange and was like “Um…8″ is something indeed.”
Sure, you can take your mind totally to the gutter. Or you can come to the same conclusion that Kate & I did. “Oh, to someone from Florida 8″ of snow is probably horrific!”
But I thought more about it as I drove home this evening in the second snowstorm in 48 hours here in Maine. We’re well beyond 8″, we’re probably up around 10″-12″ cumulatively.
Talking to my friends in San Francisco & Los Angeles, they are terrified of the idea of even an inch of snow, let alone an entire ruler of it. Here in Maine, though, our towns actually have sand and salt lines in their budgets to take care of the roads.
And Mainers are a snow-tough breed of people. We buy 4×4 vehicles with electronic stability control to avoid our vehicles going a different direction from the way we are steering it. We start work at the same time we start when there isn’t snow. And we leave at the same time we normally leave after cleaning 6 inches of snow off our vehicle without coats (maybe that’s just me.) We shovel our driveways (unless it’s dirt or goes through the woods…that’s just dangerous!) Heck, we shovel our roofs!
We make due in the winter because it’s the environment we’re in. The circumstances we’re under. The challenges we face. The winter we experience year in and and year out. Wherein we plan and prepare for and mitigate the possibility for incident other states nearly shut down when there’s more than a dusting.
And well they should.
Sometimes stuff comes up on our regular routine and environment that throws us for a complete loop. It’s stuff that someone else has handled time and again does brilliantly. It doesn’t mean that we are doing something wrong. It doesn’t mean that they are superior or better than us.
It just means that they are so accustomed to circumstance that we rarely deal with that they have become pros. Not experts. But skilled and knowledgeable resource centers. To some people 8″ is nothing really. To others, it’s something indeed.
I snowbroomed my Jeep tonight in a skirt and knee high boots with a sweater before I left work at 5 PM. No jacket. I know. I’m a Maine girl. Born and bred. Wouldn’t trade it for anything!
What are the parts of your circumstances and environment that you thrive in? What are the parts that challenge you?
Photo Credit: Getty Images: Jetta Productions
1.) My mind went straight to the gutter. I know, I know. Surprising.
2.) The human race is both very adaptable and extremely resilient. We’re fascinating creatures that way, and there’s significant amounts of science and research that reinforce this notion.
I hate snow. It’s a really annoying inconvenience if/when it ever occurs where I live, but people from Maine might literally die if they tried to run more than 3 miles in the Texas summer heat if they weren’t equipped for it. It wouldn’t necessarily take them that long to adapt though, no longer than it’d take me to learn to throw some cinder blocks in the bed of my truck so the back wouldn’t hydroplane around turns in the snow. This is given.
What intrigues me though, are things that we’re less adaptable at, and why that’s so. Some people are terrible public speakers and can’t seem to get better with extensive practice. I hate being put on the spot. In meetings, I want to listen carefully, take notes, organize my thoughts, THEN respond. I stopped going to Sunday School when I was a kid because teachers refused to let me process the information my own way. They were always so insistent on what I thought before I even knew what I thought. Is this something I could get better at? Is it something I want to?
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Ryan – I would expect nothing less from you.
You are right, it is based in large part to a humans ability to adapt to situations and circumstances. Some things will come easily or naturally to us. I personally break out in hives when I have to perform (seriously, mostly why I decided NOT to major in music performance) but I can do presentations for rooms of 50 without blinking an eye. It seems no amount of training or practice will change that.
Guess that would bring us to the whole nature v nurture thing. I certainly know a fair number of people living in Maine who do not deal well with snow. In fact, it seems most of them were on Twitter last nite.
Damn it. You totally know where my head went and I was all intrigued thinking you were going to do a post on “size matters vs size doesn’t matter.”
I was all on the edge of my chair, super attentive-like. And then, it really was about the weather. That’s cold, Elisa. Just icy cold.
David – Really? Like I could type a post like that an put it out to the world en masse? I’m blushing just typing a response to the idea!
It was about more than the weather, silly goose. But it was about cold weather, so you are kinda right there.
Hi Elisa,
I have romantic ideas in my head about Maine even thought I hate snow so much I moved from MI to AZ. It’s probably from all those LL Bean mags or maybe the Kennedy family! We did visit Maine and had a wonderful vacation in the fall years back.
I’m glad someone enjoys the snow…all 8 inches!
Tess – Maine in the fall is my FAVORITE season so you picked a great time to come up here! And yes, LLBean does a fantastic job of “selling” the beautiful idea of winter. Don’t get me wrong, pictures of winter are gorgeous. And even more there are lots of fun things to do and being out in it is kinda pretty. But driving/shoveling/digging out are definitely NOT the images they put out there.
Well, my mind immediately went to the gutter. But that’s okay
Ironically, my roommate (from Kansas) and I (from Iowa) were laughing at the people in L.A. who were freaking out about their recent tornado warnings. Growing up, I saw my fair share of tornadoes, went through many warnings and sirens and also had tornado drills all throughout school. No big thang, right?
Then I told my roommate, “Well, if Kansas had an earthquake or earthquake warning (like California gets frequently) everyone in Kansas would be freaking out.” Which is true. This touches just on the experiences you may thrive in and people living under different circumstances or even paradigms. Great thought for a post, Elisa!
Grace – I was actually thinking about tornado warnings as part of my post. We had one in Maine last year and people had no idea what was happening or what to do. It blew out walls from old barns, knocked a ton of stuff over and fortunately didn’t hurt anyone. But we were totally astounded that “something like that” could happen here in Maine.
Another great example of things that are commonplace for some but world-rocking for others.
Why on earth are you out cleaning your car off without a coat on? Do you want to end up in the hospital with pneumonia?
Seriously, a good post as usual. I was talking with someone in NC today and she could not understand how we just deal with 12 inches of snow. Go to work, go to the mall wherever. It is kind of like life. No matter what happens, you still go on.
PDiddy – Haha, leave it to you to notice that detail. In my defense it was close to 30 degrees outside, that’s balmy here in Maine!
It’s true, life just goes on in a snowstorm here. It’s a great reminder of the true magnitude of what we REALLY can handle as individuals. Whether it’s a tornado or blizzard or hurricane or earthquake, we are MUCH more accustomed to dealing with tough circumstances than we ever imagined.
My mind also went straight into a gutter. However as I kept reading this post reminded me when DC got hit with a snow storm back in December- as a native New Englander it was nothing for me.
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Patrick – Yeah, your post amused me. Very similar. I especially like the part where you talked about getting a shovel in NH cause people there already had shovels as opposed to DC where the stock sold out. I personally have 3 shovels at my house. Funny since there are only two of us!