Rules are Meant to be Broken

I am what you would call a rule-follower. I am one of those people who can’t break a rule without a ton of stress and anxiety. Last week a lady at a local store couldn’t get a dollar item to ring up so she just threw it in my bag. “Are you sure that worked? I don’t see it on the receipt,” I said, not giving up until she made sure she charged me the full amount for my single sized bag of cheese popcorn.

When it comes to rules, some are culturally established, and some we make up ourselves. My husband Tom has a rule; no shoveling after March 1st, which is usually OK because usually, March is pretty mild by Northern Michigan standards. I can stomp down a couple of inches of snow on my way to my car in March because, let’s face it, spring is on its way, and who am I to complain about a job that I avoid like the plague myself? Unfortunately, as you know, this year spring was not on its way and March was a bear. Tom didn’t get to follow his rule and was forced to move snow throughout March. When April came, he reinstated his no shoveling rule. I would be OK with that, except that with our mid-April blizzard, his no-shoveling rule interfered with my “no socks after April 1^st rule.” I simply can’t stomp on a foot of snow on the way to my car with cute flats and no socks. So he was back on the job. Our neighbors, recently returning from their winter in Florida, were right on it.

            “Hey! Hasn’t your husband looked at the calendar? I thought he didn’t shovel after March 1^st!” our neighbor chuckled. We also got texts from friends who are well aware of Tom’s rule. He was a good sport about it and powered on, snowblowing like it was February.

This year posed another problem with the no shoveling rule. In previous years, we had teenage boys at home who were expected to pick up the post-March 1^st slack. Now that they are out of the house, there isn’t anyone to say “Get out there and shovel!” to. It’s all ours.

I have to thank my husband for being a good sport and keeping the driveway cleared this year in spite of having to go back on his rule. Regardless of what happened in March or April, spring appears to have arrived and is well on its way. Tom can resume his no shoveling rule and I can stop wearing socks. I mean really, it isn’t a rule if it can’t be broken, right?