Freeing Jade

With March coming to a end, I am dismayed at how much snow still blankets the yard, with ice an inch thick still in the driveway. Other’s, who may live with more southern exposure, are watching the first spring flowers poking their tender shoots above the ground. While they are watching the flowers grow, I am standing in the open doorway of my shed, speaking encouragement to Jade.

It’s been a long cold winter. Never has this much time passed between rides for Jade and me. I am restless. Jade needs a check-up. I need a serious fix of wind therapy. I turn my back on Jade to look at our circumstances. The sun hangs in the sky, dappling through the naked branches. Higher still than the day before, yet not strong enough to melt this ice prison which holds us hostage.

One day, pulling into the yard after work, I notice the bare spots in the drive. The area where I usually park is free of ice. But what is this? Where I parked yesterday is bare as well. So the experiment begins. Each day, I park incrementally closer to the street. The heat of the engine working it’s magic on the ice beneath. At the end of the week, there is a bare patch, appropriately motorcycle size, stretching ever closer to freedom.

Pulling in to the drive yesterday, I am startled to see that all but a 5 foot patch of ice at the end of the drive remains. I bang through the door with excitement and ask my husband if he’s noticed the drastic change in the driveway from this morning. He stands there with a smug look on his face. It seems my dear husband has been busy on my behalf! Noticing that the ice was looking vulnerable under the spring sun, he took his vehicle and “patched out” a few times over the softest areas. It broke apart nicely and the sun did the rest.

I sit in good humor at my desk all the next day, thinking the weekend will find Jade and me enjoying our freedom once again. Toward the end of the day, a weather alert pops up on my computer screen. “Weather Advisory! 4 to 8 inches of snow.” My heart sinks. Life can be so cruel.

Today, my last vacation day of my company’s fiscal year, I sit home, and watch the flakes fall from the sky. The plan to free Jade from her cell has experienced a serious setback. This was to be our “spring ride day”, but Mother Nature is more powerful than my determination. I will bow in homage to her superiority. Maybe, if she has a compassionate heart, I will be rewarded with many excellent riding days in the season ahead.