Severe Cabin Fever

 Severe Cabin Fever

The ssavage wind, the deep cold, and the massive snow dump has held me captive inside of my home for too many days. I’ve spent longer times alone, but I could go outside. The wind chill has driven me inside and I’ve had to look at the walls inside of my home for twenty-four hours of the day. The fact that darkness descends so early intensifies the isolation until it becomes almost unbearable. My cell phone has kept me connected to the outside world, but it wasn’t the person to person interaction that I needed. When I worked at Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania, that is one reason I hated answering the phone and would much rather walk a few steps to talk with someone in person.

I was pleased to leave my house for Wednesday night prayer services even for a few hours and interact with real people. The church attendance was a little thin, but the time together worshipping was pleasant nonetheless. On my trip to and from, the wind nipped at my ears, but the earflaps on my hat cancelled the sting.

Thursday the cabin fever was still unabated. It still clung tightly to my brain and I drove to Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. My destination was questionable. It was to go Walmart. My desire to shop at Walmart shows how severely cabin fever had affected me.

Acttually it was great. On my way through the parking lot, I began to talk with other wayward winter adventurers. The ability to actually talk with another human being was thrilling. I shared one of my business cards with a man and woman. I also gave them a testimonial biblical tract of a friend who had survived a severe auto accident.

Inside as I negotiated the aisles and selected the items on my grocery list, I talked with several others. As usual I bumped into a few people I had worked with at the hospital and shared my business card and testimonial tracts with others. I had a wonderful time. I even offered to reach items for vertically challenged people.

Earlier I thought as I drove from my home to do my shopping, the snow lined roadways were reminiscent of the winters of my youth. The winters were marked by piles of snow pushed aside along the berms of the road and snow stacked high at the sides of driveways and parking lots. As a kid, I don’t remember the cold bothering me as much today’s frigid temperatures, but the sight of the snow lined roadways drew me back.