Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Special Treat – Sharon Bryant

February 18, 2007

Do not forget to consider the special treat entries as part of your contest selections.  Thank you.

MY WHITE VALENTINE

Sharon Bryant

Most years we never did anything for Valentine's Day except give each other a card.  But that year, hubby decided he wanted to take me out for a candle light dinner.  All week long, I awaited that day.

I picked out one of my favorite dresses and shoes to wear for the evening.  I could just taste prime rib every time I thought about the dinner.   Baked potato smothered in real butter and sour cream.  A big salad and cheese bread.   Reservations were made for 7:00 P.M.

On February 13, our television station kept telling the public that we COULD be hit with a large snow storm.  I laughed, thinking, "Even if it does snow, nothing is going to interfere with our special evening out."  I ate those words in less than twenty-four hours.

It started snowing sometime in the middle of the night.  I awoke at 6:00 A.M. and when I opened the blinds, I couldn't believe it.  There was at least a foot of snow on the ground.  I could see how deep it was by the amount on top of my picnic table in the back yard.  And it kept snowing.  And it kept snowing.  And it snowed more.  The power went out around noon.  By that time the drifts at the end of our driveway was so high, I couldn't see the neighbor's front door across the gravel road we lived on. 

At least the phone lines were working.  I called my folks 55 miles away and asked if they were getting as much as we were.  They were, but their electricity was still on mom told me.

At the time I should have been getting dressed for my Valentine's dinner, I was getting frantic.  By then we couldn't see out the windows.  When I opened the front door, the storm door was solid white.  I tried to push on it but it wouldn't budge.  I knew then dinner was a no go.

In the garage we had a BBQ grill and thank God, we had a tank of propane to cook with.  I got out some frozen pork chops from the freezer, washed some potatoes and decided we'd have a can of peas.  It was then I remembered.  We only had an electric can opener.

I don't know if you've ever been days without electricity.  I don't know if you've ever been stuck in your house without any view out any of your windows.  And I don't know if opening a can of peas ever became a first priority for your Valentine's dinner, but it did for me that day.

In the garage were the tool boxes.  I got a hammer and a screwdriver and began pounding around the rim on the can of peas.  I figured if I could get a hole going large enough for the peas to slide out of the can, I'd have it made. 

Getting those peas out of that can was as hard as putting a marshmallow into a piggy bank!  I pounded, I twisted, I bent, and I got mad.  One or two peas would come out, or get stuck and I'd have to pull it out with a knife.  Yet I was bound and determined I'd have my peas with my dinner.  When I was finished with that can, it looked like it had been bombed but the peas were in a saucepan sitting on the grill steaming away.  The potatoes were wrapped in foil and I couldn't wait for the butter and sour cream to top them off with.  The aroma of the chops was wonderful.

We had dinner like that for the next two days.  We had candle light all right for Valentine's Day.  We had candles going all over the house.  At the time we didn't even have a battery operated radio in the house.  We played domino's by candlelight, cards by candlelight, and monopoly by candlelight.

Three days later when someone dug us out, I finally got to see the sun again.   I could not believe the amount of snow we had.  The first thing I did when I could get my truck out of the driveway was go to the hardware and buy a hand crank can opener.  I threw the electric one in the trash and I've never owned one since that year.

I always keep some tools on hand, you know......just in case.

This year as I watch the news and see the east coast getting all the snow they have, it brought back the memory of my White Valentine's Day in Michigan.

Sharon Bryant

1946@bellsouth.net