The icy road has taught me the power of nature.
Photo by max fuchs on Unsplash
The whole US was significantly affected by the winter storm right before Christmas. Many flights were canceled, and a lot of people lost power.
Normally Seattle has relatively mild weather, but the city was also covered with snow. In our neighborhood, after the snow turned to drizzle for a while, the surface of the snow became shiny ice, due to the unusually low temperatures that followed. The main roads were salted and sanded so that buses could run, but the street in front of our house was as slippery as an ice-skating rink.
I really wanted to go shopping, so I first sprinkled salt on the driveway, waited a couple of hours, and started breaking the thin but hard layer of ice with a shovel. The outside was biting cold, but soon I was sweating from the labor.
I managed to clear ice on the two tracks where the tires of my car would follow. I was able to get my car out of the garage and the driveway, but the moment I hit the street, my car slid sideways.
It was less than 30 yards or so from my house to the salted, cleared bus route. I tried and tried to move my car forward. I let my car running for a while, hoping the ice underneath would melt. No luck. After wasting gas and polluting the air in vain, I gave up. I managed to slide my car to the shoulder and parked there overnight.
When I woke up the next morning, it was raining pretty hard. The temperature was well above freezing point. The air was no more biting me.
The layer of ice on the street that disabled me from driving was… all gone. No trace of it.
Who am I to think that I’m capable of fighting against nature? All I had to do was to be patient for several hours. The forecast was saying it would get warmer starting the following day.
While driving to the grocery store in the rain the next day, I was comparing the nice grip of the tires with the lost control on the ice the night before. What a vulnerable existence I am compared to almighty nature, was my realization.