Because You're Young

With the holidays over, we it was time to begin our trek back to reality. The drive was relatively short, four or five hours in all, but that didn’t make the prospect any less daunting. Again and again over the past few days we’d heard talk of a great snowstorm. In fact, that seemed to be all anyone had to talk about anymore. I, of course, assumed that the fears and stories we were hearing had been exaggerated for the most part and felt pretty confident we’d make it back all right.

We saw nothing that indicated anything out of the ordinary as we made our way back to the city. The sun shone, the roads were clear and if anything, traffic seemed to be even lighter than usual. We mocked the reports, amused by the inability of New Yorkers to cope with even the lightest dusting of snow. After all, we’d grown up in the north country where morning often greeted us with several feet of new snow left over from a blizzard the previous night.

As we finally entered the city, we came upon an abrupt change of scenery. Suddenly there was snow everywhere; it was as if the dull grey of the city had been painted a bright white. Abandoned buses, cars and trucks were strewn about the streets. Snow drifts covered vehicles parked along the streets, making it all but impossible for their owners to move them and make way for the plows. Subsequently, many roads were left unplowed, and remained impassable.

With the snow, a strange quiet had descended over the city. It was as if a bomb had gone off, leaving the survivors to sullenly sift through their wreckage. Most all businesses were closed and the public transport system had ceased to run; for all intensive purposes, the entire city had been shut down for the time being. Now and then, we’d see people pushing, shoveling, fighting to navigate their way through the snow-covered streets; while the vast majority of the city’s inhabitants elected to spend the day behind the thick walls of their warm apartments.

The snowy streets were complemented by a whipping wind. The pounding gales rattled street signs, spun traffic signals, blew snow about and made it that much more unbearable for those relegated to foot. The whole affair gave off the feeling that we had entered some sort of twilight zone, losing ourselves to another dimension of reality.

As we got closer to home, the roads became less negotiable and even more desolate. Entire blocks were unreachable. Drivers ignored traffic signals and signs and roads became blocked by immobile vehicles and massive piles of snow. We ended up pushing the car on several different occasions, and more than once I found myself driving the wrong direction down one-way streets.

Even still, beneath the solemnity I could sense something of a blissful air. In spite of the added labor and nuisance brought about by the snow there was something more agreeable. A childish sentiment of sorts, it was as though the whole city had been issued a massive snow day. While many rushed to grab sleds, others joined in to help push stuck vehicles. With some careful observation one could almost certainly make out passersby chuckling to themselves at the absurdity of it all.

“And it was absurd wasn’t it?” I found myself thinking as we finally pulled up to our apartment. In less than 24 hours the city had been completely transformed, almost unrecognizable by its former state. The next few days would be frustrating, at least until all the snow was cleared away. “Still, there’s no point in boding on it.” I thought to myself as I hastened to unpack my things, rushing to get outside and join in the fun before it was too late.