Here it comes. The big snowstorm. From my office window on the 21st floor I can see thick, heavy flakes swirling around but when I ran out to grab a sandwich, those flakes were pretty much icy raindrops by the time they splattered on East 34th St. This is just a soggy preview of what’s predicted tonight once the temperature drops and the wind rises. There’ll be a foot of snow when we wake up. Millie will love it. Her idea of a refreshing good time is to take a nap in a snow bank.
Growing up in Michigan you get familiar with snow. Winter takes up half the year. We once got a blizzard the week before Halloween and it snowed in Ann Arbor on May 1. It almost always snowed in Detroit on Opening Day. And that was all in the southern part of the state. One year I went up north with some college friends to a remote ski house and got caught in a massive blizzard, trapped for days. There was nothing to do but read and I ended up reading Ernest Shackleton’s famous book about his cruel ordeal attempting to reach the South Pole.
Not the best book under the circumstances, I suppose, but it started a tradition of reading during blizzards and other extreme weather events, which means I’ve gotten a lot of reading done lately given the way the planet’s climate is changing.
One inspiring book I’m definitely going to finish reading in the storm is my friend Lori Schneider’s More than a Mountain. I wrote about Lori in my book, The Promise of Hope, and she has appeared twice in Guideposts. Lori was the first woman with MS to ever reach the top of Mt. Everest, as well as all the other “Seven Summits.” An astonishing feat that inspired people the world over. Last year Lori led a group of people with MS and Parkinson’s in an amazing trek up Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa. More than a Mountain is a book about the beauty of the human spirit and the power of faith. I never felt better about my fellow human beings than while reading Lori’s book. I’m proud to have her as friend. And check out Lori’s site.
I’ll be reading blogs as well as books if I really get socked in. One is from someone I met on Facebook, in fact, Caroline Poser. You might be tempted to thinks she’s just a mommy blogger (as if the world needs another one) but Caroline writes so much better than most and with far greater breadth. Yes, she’s a single mom raising three boys and a hard-working professional, yet she frequently transcends her milieu. Plus she’s passionate about rescuing pit bulls and will tell you why.
And speaking of dogs, drop by Peggy Frezon’s site if you want to hear about some interesting ones. Peggy, a Guideposts workshopper, has written about dogs for all our magazines and our site, and has published several books, including one about dieting with her dog. She’s recently agreed to work with Guideposts and the Inspiring Voices publishing company on a new book. Check out Peggy and her dogs and enjoy the storm!
