Being a single mom is hard enough without having to battle snowbanks just to get home. But when my neighbor's snowblower turned my driveway into his dumping ground, I decided it was time to push back — quietly.
My name is Laura. I'm a 39-year-old single mother employed full-time as a nurse at the local hospital's trauma unit. Most of my 12 to 14-hour shifts start before sunrise and end long after it gets dark.
My name is Laura.
I've grown accustomed to the constant motion, the rotating schedules, the emotional weight of the job.
What I never quite got used to was coming home exhausted only to find our driveway buried in snow — again.
I live with my 12-year-old son, Evan, in a quiet suburban neighborhood about 20 minutes from downtown. It's just the two of us.
His dad hasn't been in the picture for years, and while that used to scare me, I've grown into the role of being both his mother and his only real parent.
It's just the two of us.
Evan doesn't complain.
If anything, he leans into it more than most kids his age. He insists on helping around the house and has his little routines. During the winter, that routine includes grabbing a shovel after school and clearing our driveway.
He does that so I can pull in when I get home late without having to climb over a snowbank in scrubs and soaked sneakers.
Evan says it makes him feel useful. I tell him he's a superhero.
Evan doesn't complain.
This winter had been rougher than usual.
Not just snow, but thick, heavy drifts that settled in overnight like unwanted guests. Some weekends, Evan and I bundled up and went out together, laughing between grunts and curses under our breath, working shoulder to shoulder with snow clinging to our hats and gloves.
I'd "bribe" him with hot cocoa. He'd roll his eyes and drink it, anyway.
But then came our neighbor, Mark.
I'd "bribe" him with hot cocoa.
Mark had always been the kind of guy who smiled only when he had something to gain.
He kept his lawn trimmed with military precision, waved at people only if they waved first, and somehow managed to make small talk sound like a performance.
I hadn't had more than a couple of real conversations with him since he moved in two years ago.
Then, this winter, he bought a snowblower.
He kept his lawn trimmed with military precision...
You should have seen him the morning he brought it out!
He looked like a kid with a new toy — chest puffed out, gloves perfectly cinched, ski goggles like he was heading into a blizzard expedition, not a suburban front yard.
At first, I was hopeful. I actually looked out the window and smiled when I saw him out there.
"Maybe this winter won't be so bad after all," I said to Evan.
He was eating cereal and shrugged. "Looks like a spaceship."
It did, kind of.
At first, I was hopeful.
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