Yesterday, my brother, his 4 kids and the daughter of Lori’s youngest sister came up with a box trailer to get furniture out of our attic for oldest niece’s (Kim) first apartment.  It was really good to see my brother and everyone.  The snow we had gotten had melted enough for him to back the end of the trailer to just beyond of the back of the house (my driveway is very long (about 200 feet) and curves around in front of a building we call the barn, then curves more and ends up at our garage door.)  Any snow we get, accompanied by any wind whatsoever, drifts in front of the barn and all along the driveway making it impossible to get out if we were not foresighted enough to park out by the road when we know snow is coming.

With all of that muscle power, it took a bare hour and a half to dig everything out of the attic and load up a bird’s eye maple bedroom suite that is over 110 years old (4 poster bed, dresser and chest of drawers), a recliner, coffee table, end table, desk, desk chair, antique walnut china cabinet, a round dining room table and four chairs.  She also got the bedside table lamp from my grandparent’s house – antique, four oil lamps, and the cow creamer that used to always sit on my grandparent’s kitchen table.  Lots of history loaded up in that trailer and enough furniture to set the young lady up nicely.

And it is amazing at how much it opened up our attic.  We can now get in there much more easily and get it organized.  We still have more things we want to get rid of, but knowing that these family pieces (some from Scott’s family, some from mine) are going to get used and appreciated by a new generation makes us feel so good.

The only bittersweet moment was when they were getting all loaded up into the truck to leave.  The kids, except Kim, all piled into the back seats, and Kim got into the front passenger seat.  It was then that it hit me that she was climbing into Lori’s seat.  Lori should have been there.  She should have been a part of getting furniture for her oldest daughter’s first apartment.  She should have been there laughing and shouting with the rest of us when a short snow-ball fight broke out.  I still do not understand why she had to leave all of us so soon, why my brother had to be deprived of his life’s mate and why the kids had to become motherless so early in life.  I have to accept that there is a reason, but I sure do not understand what it is right now.

I knew there was more snow coming, but I didn’t think it was going to start in the middle of the night.  At 1:30, something woke me, and I saw that it was snowing hard outside.  We had pulled our cars in up to nearly the barn and if the wind decided to start blowing, our cars would have been snowed in, and that would not do at all.  So, I got up, got dressed, and moved the cars back down to the road.  At that time, there was 6″ of freshly fallen snow.  As I was walking back toward the house, the fallen snow on the trees caught me as beautiful, so I pulled my camera out of my coat pocket (What?  You don’t keep a camera in your coat pocket?) and took some quick shots as I walked.

The snow laying on the trees looked beautiful.

Like a “winter wonderland of snow.”

This crab apple is between the house and the drive.  That lighted window is my bedroom.

It even turned the barn into a thing of beauty.  Sort of. 

I’ll bet the birds are happy to be in Florida right now, though.

It was so peaceful outside at going on 2 in the morning with the snow gently falling all around me.  No sounds, no wind, the temps not too cold, and the beauty of the snow piled on everything.  God blessed me with this extra time to myself, to savor the experience of snow falling in the middle of the night.

And He gave me the chance to rescue the cars from being snowed in while I could still move them.  Blessings indeed!!!