Perspective makes all the difference.

I’ve probably seen more snow in the past month living in the Tri-State than I did my entire life growing up in North Carolina.

Those February and March snows were absolutely beautiful, but debilitating for many of us. Myself, each time those 8- to 12-inch snowfalls came, I was homebound for a least a day or two. I live on a steep inclined alley in Huntington and the city doesn’t plow those roads.

The first big snow in February was especially bad since the temperatures were still below freezing for days on end, leaving a semi-permanent paving of ice on my alley.

Gravity got me down the hill, but after that, I spent the next two and a half to three weeks parking elsewhere and walking up the hill every day until the ice had melted enough for my little car to handle.

I was pretty discouraged during that time. I saw many of my North Carolina friends posting photos of their yards and roads after a “dusting” of an inch or two, complaining of road conditions and being stuck in doors.

I wish I had only two inches of snow to complain about, I thought to myself.

I’ve mentioned before that the jokes people tell about us southerners’ reactions to snow aren’t actually jokes. They are totally true.

Don’t even try and go to the grocery store when the threat of snow is looming if you want bread and milk unless you’re good and ready to scratch and claw for it.

One of my favorite Internet memes I saw floating around this winter was a picture of John Candy as the Wally World security guard in “National Lampoon’s Vacation” saying, “Sorry folks, North Carolina is closed.”

But perspective makes all the difference.

I found myself complaining a lot about the abundance of snow here and the lack of care given to the streets in my neighborhood.

All I had to do was look at some of the photos of New England’s snowfall and I felt much better about my own circumstances.

While I was complaining about 9 inches of snow, Boston residents have had to deal with 9 feet of snow.

Nine. Feet. Of. Snow.

I absolutely can’t imagine how I would cope with that much snow. I feel like I would be trapped in my house until spring. How would I even get food if I ran out?

What do those poor people up north do with 9 feet of snow around their homes, cars, work places?

But you’ve got to hand it to those city workers for clearing away 1 billion cubic feet of snow so far.

According to Marty Walsh, the mayor of Boston, city workers have taken 30,000 truckloads of snow off the street, melted more than 50,000 tons of snow and plowed 263,000 miles of roadway.

To me, that’s just incredible. Really puts things into perspective.

And hats off to the work crews around the Tri-State who plowed roads and worked on power lines.

And a special thank you goes out to the two strangers who helped me get my car unstuck from a snowy road.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed we’ve seen the last of the winter weather for this year.

Although, the sun came out for five minutes last week and something must have bloomed, because my sinuses are running amok. But it could be worse, I keep telling myself.

Perspective is everything.

 

Michelle Goodman is the news editor at The Tribune. To reach her, call 740-532-1441 ext. 12 or by email at michelle.goodman@irontontribune.com.