Relatively Minor
Laughter does not have to come from a major source. It could indeed be ... relatively minor.
Iowa experienced harsh weather over the weekend, with a significant drop in temperature and heavy snowfall. People who have ever used the phrase “It will be a cold day when ...” would have found plenty of opportunities to make amends. Iowans had no choice but to face the two-part documentary that Mother Nature had planned for them.
Snowmageddon Part One began a week ago when meteorologists predicted the first significant snowfall of 2024. The experts studied their mathematical models before announcing the four-letter word. However, their prediction faced opposition from the community of Wintersetonians, who lowered their shovels to the pavement in protest. This unintentionally worsened the situation for those who longed for the 60-degree days of December. Little did they know that the snow that fell at the beginning of that week was just the tip of the iceberg.
Mother Earth took control and wrote a more intense script for Snowmageddon Part Two. This time, she ignored the meteorologists and even abandoned the Ouija board. Instead, she allowed a cross-country storm to linger over the south-central Iowa community for three days, creating a winter blizzard that nobody enjoyed. Shovels couldn’t keep up; residents drifted back and forth between sidewalks and driveways to clear up to a foot of fresh snow before succumbing to the whiteout conditions of multiple neighborhood snowblowers.
I thought the driver’s side door of my bright yellow Jeep had frozen solid. I pounded on the outer edges for fifteen minutes attempting to break winter’s icy grip, until my husband came out into the frigid temperatures and asked me if I had tried unlocking the door first. Needless to say, one click of the key fob and the door magically opened.
The documentaries Snowmageddon Part One and Snowmageddon Part Two received backbreaking reviews, and although there is no news of a Snowmageddon Part Three yet, Mother Nature hinted that we would just have to wait and see.
www.wintersetmadisonian@gmail.com
Member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative