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The beauty of nature’s fury awaits exploration

While many may not like the blanket of snow we’ve received over the past few days, and the 60+ cm accumulation that covered us

While many may not like the blanket of snow we’ve received over the past few days, and the 60+ cm accumulation that covered us in November, we find it’s both relaxing and enjoyable.

Relaxing because we don’t have to shovel and haven’t had to navigate streets around our community very much. That’s the joy of living across the street from work.

Enjoyable because there is so much visually appealing about what Mother Nature and Jack Frost have created in their fury of gusting and blowing while temperatures dropped.

There’s another positive aspect about our recent travails. That’s the many neighbours and friends who have gone out of their way to help others whether it’s with snow clearing or pushing stuck vehicles. Or the many other ways we step up to help when we see people who need us.

We’ve got to applaud the town, as well, for recognizing the desperation of our residents and elevating snow clearing to top priority, hiring additional equipment to double their snow clearing work force and working around the clock to help us recover as quickly as possible to what we consider normal.

We remember days gone by, though, where returning to normal took weeks — Southern Ontario storms that dumped feet and in some cases it was that heavy wet snow.

Or memories from Saskatchewan where the flat bald prairie allows the wind to pack deep drifts that would leave motorists stranded for days.

Even this week, along Highway 1 between Calgary and Brooks, the highway was closed for more than a few hours and visitor reception centres were set up to welcome those stranded.

Really, when you think about it, the only disadvantage to this storm or others is what it does to our often too-busy lives. Why are we so driven? Why can’t we take this in our stride?

It’s our lives that have changed, perhaps for the worse, when we can’t enjoy what we’ve been dealt and marvel while helping each other get through another day or week.