The First Snow Shoveling of the Winter

I have always taken great joy in shoveling snow. As children the Paulsen boys ran a snow shoveling business in our neighborhood. I'm not sure how it all started but the fact that we lived in an area full of old widows didn't hurt business.

I remember Jeff and Eric waking up early on snow days to go out and take care of the shoveling. I was young and jealous. Eventually Tim was also allowed along and by the time I got to go out Eric and Jeff were long gone. Tim and I would shovel between 8 and 10 walks and driveways for at least half of those homes.

These were great growing moments in my childhood. Not a lot of words were spoken but we would bundle up and shovel snow from 4am until it was done which did make me late for school on more than one occasion. Eventually Tim also grew out of the job and then I was alone. Granted this meant for double the money for me but also double the work. I never regretted it and as far as I can remember I never complained about it either. I took valuable lessons from the hard work, early mornings, and the service (even if paid) we did for very old people.

Eventually it seems as I began to get older and ready to graduate from High School the old ladies started to die off. As my ability to do the work dimished, so did my number of customers. I'm grateful to those wonderful people who paid us Paulsen boys money to learn priceless lessons on those early, cole, wyoming mornings. A shout out to the red house on the corner, Grandma McCrann in the pink house, Mr Copiak (spelling) next door, Mike & Joe, they yellow house, Grandma Constantino, and the lady with the astro turf steps that made us use the broom.

Now as an adult I look forward to getting out and shoveling my walks. Today was the first time of the season!

Jacob Paulsen
www.jacobspaulsen.com

PS Eric do you have anything to add?