Snowmaggedon 2019
Living in a small town isn’t for everyone, and after I graduated from North Kitsap high school in 1985 I couldn’t wait to leave mine behind. Despite the fact that I loved aspects of my little corner of the world (Indianola, Washington) I thought the county was too conservative and claustrophobic.
Several years of college on the East Coast made the Pacific Northwest look more appealing (I actually missed the rain). One summer I brought my boyfriend back with me for a visit. I’m convinced that the universe had a plan because nature pulled out all the stops. The weather was spectacular. We witnessed porpoise playing at the bow of the Bainbridge Island ferry (hadn’t seen this before or since) and my boyfriend was awestruck by the eagles gliding through the air above Indianola’s picturesque beach. After a week he was sold and exclaimed “Why would you want to live anywhere else?!”
It has been 28 years since we drove our Volvo station wagon and small truck cross country from Philadelphia to Kitsap County. We built a house, settled in, had a kid and started businesses. However, not unlike marriage, small town life has had its ups and downs.
A few years back (2013), a disagreement over how to handle repairs to the town’s iconic Indianola dock tore the community in half. A dividing line was drawn between two camps; those who were perceived as newcomers with unnecessarily rigid ideas, and the old timers who didn’t take kindly to being told how and when or why their dock should be “fixed”. It got ugly and there was fall out. Two people, who had been dedicated community volunteers, sold their home and moved out of the area because they felt targeted by the collective animosity (I was their realtor). In hindsight, there was a lot of needless drama and plenty of blame to go around, myself included.
The conflict really upset me and my anxiety around it lingered. I wondered if I would every feel the same about my little town. Then came the 2016 presidential election. No matter what side of the wall you are on, most people can agree that it has been ugly. This national divide has made me think a lot about how the microcosm reflects the macrocosm. Our individual encounters with the world (how we respectfully agree to disagree and/or how we rage in the public arena) reflects the political climate in our nations capitol and the world at large. How can I expect to experience or witness a shift in attitude from an “Us vs Them” mindset on a large scale if I can’t live it in my day to day encounters?
Last year I received an email from a community member I had been on the opposite side of the fence from during the dock debacle. She needed to sell her house and wanted to know if we could set our past differences aside and if I would be her realtor. Any shred of animosity I may have felt evaporated immediately. Her email took courage and it was a relief to let go of all of the old crap. She was a pleasure to work with and we are now friends.
This past week the Pacific Northwest had an uncharacteristically big snow storm. Usually, snow lingers in the mountains but vanishes immediately when it hits the ground in our maritime climate. We had over a foot of perfect white, fluffy, snow – ideal for sledding, making roads too slick to drive on and creating power outages. It was over 23 years ago that we had snow like this and Indianola was transformed into a picture perfect winter wonderland.
You don’t drive through our town to get anywhere so the countless big hills; Midway, Shore Drive, Harris and “Killer Hill” were mobbed with people of all ages sledding around the clock. Some locals pitched in and hosted a Smowmaggedon 2019 block party at the top of a particularly steep hill in the center of town. There was a DJ spinning tunes, people were grilling hot dogs, kids were screeching as they bombed down the hill, dogs were milling around dodging sleds, everyone was laughing and happy to be out of their houses. It was fun and chaotic and beautiful…and it gave me hope.
Deep down, I think we all relished the opportunity to put