The Coming Storm

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I was just 12 years old when the blizzard of '77 hit the Western New York area and although it was a horrible storm that created a ton of problems, I remember it as a good time. The entire family was stuck in the house with nowhere to go and not a single thing to do. I remember playing Monopoly with my brothers and sisters and my father who was thrilled, I'm sure, to be trapped in the house with six kids ranging from 14 to 2.

I remember the police driving up to our home on snowmobiles asking if we needed anything and my father requesting cigarettes - they brought them back too.

I thought of all of this and more today as it started to snow. The roads were slippery for a few minutes and the snow was coming down and it crossed my mind that I'd love a nasty storm to hit - just after everyone returned safely to their homes.

I suppose that living in Buffalo has made me appreciate the power of a good storm and what can be done to weather it.

Lately I've been hearing about a lot of storms in a lot of people's lives. Storms of confusion, loves gone wrong, health problems, drinking problems, not-drinking problems, economic problems and just what-the-hell-am-I-doing-with-my-life-types of problems.

Best advice? Ride the storm out. I learned that in '77 and I've sort of appreciated it in the years since. I had a buddy in California who was in the earthquake in the late 80's - it took me a long time to finally reach him, but when I finally heard his voice, I was relieved.

"How bad was it?" I asked.

"Ah, it was awesome," he said. "I volunteered to help with the clean-up and I met this girl on the first night and we hung out for two weeks. Best earthquake of my life."

My father was a driven man - extremely ambitious and unbelievably determined - and during that storm in '77 - thinking back on it - he was as relaxed as he could be. The family was safe and warm, there was plenty of food to eat, hell we even had cops delivering cigarettes. What else did we need?

The snow stopped today - I guess the storm wasn't quite as huge as predicted - but there will be another one coming soon enough - how the storm is weathered goes a long way towards lessening its severity.

That works in life too.

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