Friday, December 01, 2006
December brought our first snow. Beautiful yes, but also cold and inconvenient.
I thought about taking the L to work, but heard there was a fire on the Red Line. So, I dug my car out of the snow, scraped off the window, and drove through the slippery roads, all the time knowing that at the end of the day it would be hard to find an empty spot that someone hadn't plunked lawn chairs down in to "save" for their own car.
I listened to the new Tom Waits album during my drive. As I pulled into the work parking lot he sang, "You can never hold back spring. You can be sure I will never stop believing."
As I got out of my car, I saw a homeless woman trudging through the snow down the otherwise empty street beyond the parking lot fence. She was half-yelling half-singing a song that she seemed to make up as she went along, almost as an S.O.S. to the blank industrial buildings on each side of the road.
"I am freezing, I am freezing
It is cold, it is cold
I am freezing, I am freezing
Just for you, just for you..."
Later in the day, sitting at my desk, I caught myself humming and realized it was her song.
