~A MEMORY FROM LONG AGO~

Tonight, as I lay warm beneath the covers of my bed.. Neptune (our latest blizzard) is baring down... the wind blows... the snow swirls ...prompting my thoughts to travel back in time..a simpler time...one of a young girl...living on an island....a time when blizzards were a common winter occurrence...there was no weather hype...no mad dash to the grocery store or gas station...living a somewhat isolated island existence...one where the last ferry departed the island at 7pm and would not return till 7 the next morning...  you were prepared...or if by rare chance you were not your neighbor was... with a winter population of perhaps thirty families...the island was a tight knit community... one where neighbors helped neighbors...gratitude came in the way of a baked good...a jar of jam or perhaps a jar of pickles "put up" the previous summer...A blizzard was exciting, weather forecaster's never really knew how much snow we could expect or how hard the wind would gust, but as children, we remained outside constructing snow forts, igloos and snowmen for as long as our parents would allow...boredom was not in our vocabulary... One of my fondest memories as a child is not really a memory at all, but a feeling...with the last ferry long gone...cut off from the outside world...I felt safe... secure..across the water far off in the distance the faint sound of a foghorn...such a calming sound ...a road  crew of three... George, John and Uncle Ronnie... keepers of the night ...plowing roads...keeping us safe as we slept...I can still recall the sound of the old plow truck as it rumbled up the hill  outside my bedroom window...a window which most winter nights  frosted over with the most delightful icy patterns...It was a different time... a simpler time...but one which I will hold in my heart forever...