Sunday, February 12, 2006

First Snow

Silly of me to think that I could get through my first winter back up north and not have to deal with any snow.

It started to snow Saturday night but initially it did not stick to the ground. But by the time I got off of work at 3 a.m. Sunday morning the snow was coming down steadily and sticking.

So I woke up Sunday morning to a white, winter wonderland. Snow is okay if you don't have to shovel it, dig your car out of it or walk long distances in it. My older nephew was nice enough to walk down from his apartment to shovel the ground for my mom and clean off her car and mine. Mommy, being the great mom and grandmother that she is, rewarded him with some homemade chicken soup that she prepared as he was doing all that shoveling.

I had a spa appointment set for 10 a.m. I made the appointment days ago not knowing snow was in the forecast. I know it's winter and I usually don't shave but at the request of Trinidad Brotha I was gonna get the works...lower legs, underarms and brazilian bikini. And I have been so stressed lately that I was also going to treat myself to a facial. I have been working every day straight, no days off, since the Super Bowl because right after the SB, the Olympics started. So my life right now is work, go home, maybe watch a dvd and sleep, when I get up it's time to go to work again.

I tried calling the spa at 9:30 and 9:45 to see if they were going to be open...so I assumed they were not going to open when I did not get an answer and when they didn't call me back. But Trinidad Brotha was persistant...he called at 10:24 and told me to try calling them one more time. He said, "Baby, I don't mind hair down there but you need to get your underarms done." That's why I like him...gotta respect his honesty. To please him I did call the spa again...and dammit they were open. So at 10:30 I was out and trudging through the snow.

By no means was I prepared for the snow. I'm staying at Trinidad Brotha's apt and I didn't bring a lot of clothes with me. At one point I was leaving clothes at his house but we were having problems. I think dating each other and living with each other was getting to be too much so I returned to splitting my time between my mom's house and his place to avoid conflict. But today I was regretting that move. I had no boots...only my Timberland SNEAKERS...and I'm not even sure if I have boots at my mom's house or if they are in storage in Atlanta. I found a pair of his sweatpants to put on over my jeans so my jeans would not get soaking wet in the snow. I did have my big leather with fur lined jacket and the scarf and gloves my mother gave me when I moved back home since living in the south I was no longer properly prepared for facing the winter weather up north.

Luckily I only had to walk two blocks to get to the underground subway tunnel. I hopped on the train and 2 stops later I was at Central Park. People were in the park having snow ball fights, making snow angels, skiing...yes skiing, snowboarding and riding tobbagins. I had never seen people actually ski through the streets of New York so that was a sight to see.

I had to walk 4 blocks with the wind blowing the snow in my face. And I was mad when I got within one block of the spa and saw there were several subway lines I could have taken that were closer to the spa and I wouldn't have had to walk through the snow so much.

As a woman I still don't understand why we put ourselves through so much pain for the sake of beauty. I can handle getting my legs and underarms waxed but the brazilian bikini wax is torture from start to finish. My specialist Poline (pronounced Pauline) is Russian and she offered to shape my landing strip in the shape of a heart but I said no thanks, maybe next time. And facials are painful too...but only when they get to the deep pore cleaning portion of the treatment. So after all this pampering, if that's what you want to call it I had to face the wind and the snow again.

By the late afternoon the snow finally stopped but about 2 feet of the white stuff had accumulated on the ground. Walking is treacherous and tomorrow, when some of the snow freezes in to ice, it will be deadly. I might have to stop past Modell's on the way to work and pick up a pair of boots.

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