Kevin Bradley
Staff Writer
As we enter into the final stretch of the semester, we all begin to feel the drastic change in life at St. Bonaventure. The air turns frigid, noses start to run and we are hit with wave after wave of snowy blizzards that turn our school into a barren white landscape that makes going to class like navigating Antarctica.
It is winter my friends, and it’s the best season we’ve got.
Now you might think that I’m only saying that because of Christmas happening in the winter, but I’m not. In fact, I’d say that part of the reason Christmas is so great is because it happens in the winter and not the other way around.
Winter gets a bad rep for its hardships and brutal weather, but that same thing can lead to so many great opportunities.
Take, for instance, the ability to make money. When I was a kid, my brother and I would go out into the neighborhood and offer to shovel driveways for $10 each.
It was tough, but because no one wanted to do it, we got decent work. We made nice money for kids, and it taught us the value of doing things yourself and doing them well if you wanted a reward.
One of my best memories comes from my mom and I having to shovel snow piled four feet high off of our driveway by ourselves. The rest of the family was out, so the two of us worked without rest for over seven hours, breaking our backs just so we could get the job done properly.
By the end, we were drenched in sweat but overjoyed that we could accomplish such a hard challenge by ourselves.
Because of the cold weather, I learned to appreciate the warmth of my home even more. My family always makes the best meals during the winter season, and sharing those meals together was made more enjoyable as a fire roars in the fireplace with snow covering the outside world.
This holds especially true for my mom’s homemade cookies- the envy of every household in Fairfield, Connecticut.
All in all, I find that the hardships of winter are some of its best qualities because they provide us with the chance to come together and be proud of our hard work.
It’s never easy, and it might be annoying to deal with, but coming in from a day of lifting snow off the asphalt to a cup of hot chocolate is one of the most rewarding feelings you can get. And it’s something I cherish every single year.
bradlekp14@bonaventure.edu
