When I went to sleep last night it was snowing. When I woke this morning it was still snowing. Needing to do some shopping, I decided to wait for the snow to stop, before trudging down to the local supermarket.With my backpack filled to the brim with school supplies for our house-building exercise with Grade 1, a pack of toilet rolls under my arm and my old lady shopping cart bursting at the seams with groceries and baking goodies for a school bake sale, I headed back home.
How I cursed as I slipped and slid and dragged the objecting shopping cart through the dirty snow on the road. Fresh snow and car tyres are an evil mix. Pure white snow turns into filthy brown sludge. It's a bit like walking in a caramel slushy. Only it's not as sweet and you're not at the movies.
If I was an inventor, I would design 4 x 4 off road wheels for old lady shopping carts.
Light snow started falling as I arrived at the start of my road. The snow on my road was white and fresh, unsullied by car tyres. As I dragged my shopping cart up the incline, I heard the snow crunch under my supposedly non-slip boots. My shopping cart was like dragging a dead body up the hill. (Not that I know what dragging a dead body is like, but I have watched enough Homeland to have an idea.) Why oh why did I buy the frozen fruit smoothie packs, the container of ice-cream, the cans of apple cider? How was I going to get all of this up the stairs to my attic apartment?
I stopped to catch my breath, looked back at the grey lake covered in sheets of ice and small mounds of snow. And then it hit me!
I am truly blessed.
I am heading to a warm apartment with all the creature comforts. I have unlimited water. I earn enough to buy whatever groceries I want at the shop. I have children who love me. I am safe. I am not hiding from snipers or running from bombs raining down. I have access to good medical care. I have friends. When there is so much hardship in the world, how dare I sulk over dragging a shopping cart through the snow.
Cindy Vine is the author of Hush Baby, Defective and Not Telling. All her books are available on Amazon.com in both Kindle and Paperback format.
