Musings from the Ozone

The blizzard of 2009 on Long Island

Waking up to more than a foot of snow on a Sunday morning, makes a pastor and wife cringe with fright!  Sunday is the most important day of the week as far as the pastor's work goes.  I realize that every day is the Lords' day in reality,  however, in church work, a congregation expects their pastor to be in  the pulpit on the first day of the week! 

What were we supposed to make of this forced-upon-us day off?  We didn't ask for it, nor did we plan for it!  Hesitantly,  we peered out the front door.  At first glance, we realized that the steps were completely buried under the snow.  On second glance, or second gasp, we also realized  that we saw a clean white sheet of snow for as far as the eye could see and there was no road out there!  At  6 AM, one already saw the 'handwriting on the wall.'  We couldn't  get to church, 25 miles away, whether we wanted to or not, since trying to travel  down that treacherous road would be impossible.   The above picture was taken here on Long Island, and in some parts they reported more than 20 inches of snow. We certainly wouldn't want to be stuck in that snow! 

We had  heard from one of the members the night before, calling to find out about services in the morning.  Of course,  church  would have to be cancelled.  Even if one  managed to get  to the church, parking on the busy city street would be non-existent.   I sat down to the computer, and send out an e-mail and text messages to the congregation.  Another pastor had called us the night before; he had already cancelled his service early, as the blizzard had really set in by 10 PM.  This chore took about 2 minutes; the lack of replies to our e-mail let us know that no one would put up a fuss.   The assistant pastor called  us; he didn't get to bed until 1:30 AM.  His daughter had gotten stuck on the freeway for 2 hours, waiting for an accident to be cleared.  This was even before the real blunt of the storm had  hit. Later, another person told us they were also stuck several times, and that good samaritans had pushed her out each time!

Oh, dear,  this would be a day that was totally unplanned.  To the pastor and wife , such a day  is very  confusing.  On a normal Sunday, there would be a desire to sleep in , but eerily, I woke up just before 6 AM.  It wasn't like the drowsy sort of feeling one has when they know they  have to get up at 7 AM, rain or shine,  Sunday after Sunday.  No, it was more like a feeling of dread; like someone who would have to miss a day of work  because their child was sick.  They feel guilty because they aren't sick; it is a child that is sick.  It isn't their fault.   Missing church wasn't our fault!  Why would we feel guilty or so strange!

 Oh no! As the realization set in that we wouldn't be having church, we remembered that  this was the Sunday of  the children's Christmas program!  The Christmas drama had gone on, as it was on the Saturday before the storm,   Even though the weather was threatening, and the white flakes were falling, the worst had held off.   The  Sunday before Christmas is the  most eventful day!  The last Sunday of the month of December will have to make up for this  missed Sunday,  although 'after' Christmas doesn't exactly have the same ring to it, does it?  Many people even take off for Florida or down South to celebrate New Year's day!  

I continued to feel disjointed or  out-of-synch for a stretch of hours.  Oh well, I thought,  there would always time for a leisure breakfast, when one has to stay indoors.  Somehow the appetite wasn't there?  I decided,  instead, to just settle for a bowl of cereal and the usual cup of coffee.  Husband was already outdoors.  I had called to him, only to realize that he wasn't in the house!  He was as restless as I was, and he just had to do something!  He decided to just start in shoveling.  I had decided that was nuts, because it was still snowing out!  But, he was in that great white outdoors, where no one can hear a word spoken to them, so I why bother to call him.  Great insulation, snow.

Thankfully, the cereal hit bottom, and I became very sleepy again.  Yes, I would just go back to bed……hey, that was a great idea!  I slept almost 3 hours!  I had gone to bed late the night before, and got up too early, so that extra sleep in the morning was just what I needed.  

 However, it was only 11 AM when I awoke, and if we were at church, we would be getting out of Sunday School, and into morning worship.  I started, unconscious-like, watching the clock.  Now, we would be doing thus-and-so at the church right now, etc.   I had to stop doing that.  It made the day even longer, when there was no decent schedule or plan for this strange day. 

 Alright, there is always housework.  Of course!  Zip, zip, zip….and the tidying up was over.  I was just not in a mood to clean deeply or thoroughly on a Sunday.  The zombie-like feeling persisted throughout the whole day!  I read my bible.  I read  a book.  I bundled up and went out doors to knock off some icicles over the porch which were hanging desperately low;  they could have knocked  us in the head, if we didn't get rid of them.  Felt real proud of myself for getting rid of that danger!

 I had an urge to talk to someone, but then our  kids would all be in church in other states.  The urge passed.  I got on Facebook, only to realize that most people I know were in church too!  

A girl from our church wrote me a note on Facebook.  She had been shoveling snow.   How exciting.  

I wrote some friends e-mail  letters, but time still moved slower than normal.  

This blog entry is boring me to death.  Too much sleep, too much boredom, too much Facebook, too much snow, and too much limbo for one day!  It was enough  to make a person loony.   Monday would be different.   The roads would  be clear again; we would have appointments and things to do.  Why does that sound better? Are we creatures of habit? Do we just dislike the feeling of being in limbo, or do we dislike having unexpected events forced upon us?  Even if we take every precaution of being prepared when the unexpected happens, does that mean that we will be spared the feeling of strangeness? Even though I have a library of books, that was not an insurance against boredom.  I didnt realize that I might not  feel like reading when I was forced to stay indoors.  

Did we get much out of being snowed in?  Those that I did talk to said they got some extra sleep, but other than that, a lot of us felt that it was very inhibiting to be 'snowed in,' and most especially, on a Sunday!