63 Days

Messages left on the line between February 14th, 11am CST - February 17th, 2am CST.

So in the last 63 hours, the things that have brought me joy and comfort have been a couple of things. A little bit of a backstory- my mother passed away a couple of days ago so I’m in the city where she lived for the last 12 years or so and I was comforted and filled with joy because I got to spend time with my three adult children who live far away from me and we were able to wake up every morning and have meals together, you know, reminisce and share memories and that has brought me a lot of comfort. I’m grateful for the gift of family and to be able to just be myself in this time of grief with my kiddos.

Hi, I had just flown in to Chicago in the face of a huge snowstorm, fortunately my plane wasn’t canceled, we went on time, we landed on time, I got a cab downtown, in half an hour I was home- no problem. My street wasn’t plowed but the sidewalk in front of my house was shoveled clean, and my stairs were clean. I went in and I was just so relieved that it had been a much easier trip than anticipated. So, I decided I’d go to the grocery store. Checked in the back and I was able to shovel a path from the house to the garage, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Took 15 minutes. Went and got my car, looked in the alley, decided, yeah people have been up and down the alley, I can pull out. So, I pulled the car out of the garage and started to head south in the alley and got stuck. So, I got out a shovel and I started to dig and 15 minutes later I was still digging, I tried rocking the car forward and back, no success at all. I was getting very discouraged. A neighbor came out, saw what I was doing and went back, got a pair of shoes so he could help me. He came and he helped- I’d never met him before- helped for a little bit. He said, you know, we’re not going to be able to do this and he gave up and he went back in his house. I went and grabbed my shovel again and thought, it’s just getting too late, I’m going to have to give up. And then suddenly there was a voice behind me that said, “can I help you?” and I turned around and there was a man with a shovel in his hand and I said, “oh!” and a minute later another guy with another shovel came and the three of us shoveled for about 15 minutes, they pushed the car forward and back, forward and back and set me free. And by then, it was, they said where are you going to go and I said well it’s late now, so I’m just going to pull it back in the garage and I was able to pull the car back into the garage and I said, they were still there, and I said, can I give you something? And they said, no we’re just snow-matarians and I said, oh my thank you so much and they hopped in their car, it was a van, and they drove down the alley and went on their way and they just absolutely made my day. Snow-matarians on the day it is Snow-maggedon. Oh, that is Chicago. Well, that’s my story for today. Bye bye.