picked up my shovel,

and crossed a dangerous street,

that's what neighbours do.

My day started oddly today - trapped at home due to weather and sitting in my kitchen having a coffee in my pajamas, reviewing reports to make wise statements about training's links to strategy - when I saw a younger version of myself stuck in some ice.

To say I got dressed is overselling the reality - in truth, I pulled on yoga pants and a workout shirt without benefit of bra or underwear, and prayed fervently that no one would ever see me without my winter coat on.  Slipping down ice and crossing the street, I navigated the ice to help a neighbour whose truck had lodged itself in a pile of unmelted ice at the end of the street.  

We laboured for a while, until her husband came to ignore me and berate her.  I stood, remembering the days when I might have been yelled at for my choices and demeaned for making a mistake, and once again thanked every star visible and not visible that this was no longer my reality.  

I packed up and went home.

To a flooded basement, but the resources and knowledge to work with it.  Life can be so challenging sometimes.