Snowing in Seattle


It happened about fifteen years ago. The snow came down so fast the city was pretty much paralyzed in just a few hours. My partner and I had gone to Seattle for a visit and watched the snow pile up outside the window of a Mexican restaurant in Pike Place Market.

As the flakes grew thicker on the ground we made our way outside. There we discovered many people heading home, fleeing the city early as the white got deeper.

Down to the bus tunnel. Lots of people waiting for buses that never came. We headed up again and decided to walk. I-5 was literally a parking lot. We later heard the gridlock was so complete that drivers began running out of gas and abandoning their cars, making it impossible to clear the highway other than with tow trucks. Along the way we helped push an ambulance uphill, passed several empty buses abandoned on corners, saw a bus with just two people inside: a weary-looking driver talking to a person in a wheelchair.

I am fascinated by circumstances that cause the usual flow to back up and find a new path, like water around an obstacle. What a wonder that day was!

It took us three hours to walk back to our friends' place. On the way we ducked into still-open businesses to get warm, made snow-angels, and tossed snowballs, moving ever slower through the increasing depths.

The most interesting part of the day was seeing the reactions of other people. They seemed mostly to fall into three camps: playfully enjoying the unexpected magic; matter-of-factly coping; or grumpily decrying the horrible experience.

Same outward experience, varied reactions.

What to say about that? At first I felt sad for the grumps, even superior- I am so evolved and able to adapt and enjoy! But you know what? Every reaction I saw that day is in me and I manifest them all at times. How often have other people relished an unexpected turn of events that I chose to resist and be annoyed by? And how many times have I become more grumpy when I see other people reacting to a shared event in a more joyful way than me? We were recipients of some of that in Seattle. The judgemental stares, the tsk-tsk-ing, the comments- "what are you so happy about?"

Sure, we were in Seattle on a visit, not anxious to get home to family and dinner and rest. We had no firm commitments. Seeing others react so differently to the snow was a mirror for me. I can't help acknowledging how often I choose the grumpy path. I experience grumpiness for different reasons, but the truth is I still choose it! Or, more accurately, I choose not to choose when the reaction arises, which someone far wiser than me has said is actually a choice!

This is certainly not a new idea...psychologist Wayne Fleisig has published an amusing article as a reminder. What I'm getting at is the need to be more intentional. I want to make choices that are more likely to lead to a richer, more satisfying life.

I remember arriving at our friends' that night feeling a good kind of tired, having played and felt the wonder of nature's message to us that life is not always predictable. That we don't always get the expected. But there were some folks that day, I suspect, that arrived home dwelling on adversity, inconvenience, and how life is such a slog. Hmmmmm, which outcome do I prefer?

Reminder to self: I am constantly choosing my reactions and can intentionally create the potential for a richer, happier life. And I want to live my life with wonder, as though it's always snowing in Seattle.