BLIZZARD

This is the note from my mom to my dad that I woke up to. Interesting how she softens the blow with use of the word "might," like merely suggesting "You might want to pick up some milk for coffee." She is as casual about suggesting that he make an $800 purchase as she is about a $3 purchase. I love the demands she places on my dad and even more so, how she goes about it. I also love the urgency and hubbub around this so-called "blizzard" in NY. They announce on the weather that we are going to get 6-12 inches of snow and you would think we are having the snowstorm of the century, like we live in the Appalachians. People are stocking up on food in the grocery stores, shovels are sold out everywhere, my dad goes out to buy a snowblower.
Mind you, they have lived in this same home for 30 years now and seemed to do relatively well without a snowblower until the "blizzard of 2009" when we can't live without it. Btw, we don't live on an acre of land. Like most crowded suburbs, we live on top of the houses next to us, so it's not like he needs a ride-on tractor for a farm. I think it has more to do with the fact that my dad considers bacon a food group, and even though he works out with a personal trainer (ie walks around the gym going "eh oh Joey, how's it goin?" and then does a sit-up), he seems to get rounder and rounder by the day. My mom is scared that any form of strenuous physical activity like shovelling will bring on a mild heart attack. Were that to happen, she would have no one to leave a note that says "Your daughter is getting married, you might want to put an extension on the house." True story. Not the note, but the fact that they put on extension on their house for my sister's wedding. A wedding that didn't even take place in their home, it was for the activities surrounding it.
Well got to go start baking before I get ousted from the "Cookie Exchange" like my Uncle did for not taking it seriously enough. And gearing up for the snowstorm. You might want to go buy a snowblower.