The Mandatory "I Live in Western New York" Picture

There's been an awful lot of discussion about winter lately. People are complaining. Forwards about the horrors of winter, the horrors of snow, and the horrors of storms are zipping around left and right. And the other day one of the members of my department sent me an e-mail that was filled with pictures from Buffalo--you know, pictures that put this year's Maine snowfall in perspective.

I've seen a lot of those pictures before, and I've also been posed in a lot of those pictures before. It's kind of a requirement, a mandatory right of passage for anyone living in the greater Buffalo area. When it starts flurrying, when the snow starts piling up on the back porch, that's when you get out the camera and strike a pose. Then you mail that photo to everyone who doesn't live in Buffalo. You say, "See what we have to live with?" After all, we've earned the right to make a big deal out of it. Trust me.

Well, tonight I found one of those mandatory photographs that features me, my back porch, a building bank of snow, and a facial expression I am sure came from my parents saying, "Look scared! Look like you're about to be swallowed whole by that snowbank!"

What can I say? I tried my best.