snowpocalypse

never in a million years did i think i'd be following up my last snow post with another snow post only two weeks later.  but that's exactly what's happened -- and this time it was downright frightening.

we again had full knowledge that it was coming; schools closed pre-emptively (which, this time, turned out to be the right call) and i was well-stocked in ingredients for chili, hot chocolate, and wine.  but the ferocity with which it hit surprised everyone.

let me set the stage: susanna, social butterfly that she is, had been invited to two playdates on wednesday as soon as school was cancelled.  she eagerly accepted both, especially since liam had a half-day of school and we both knew she'd be bored out of her mind without him.  i dropped her off at the first with the plan that her friend's mom would then take both girls to the second playdate at 1:00.

i picked up liam from school and then headed out to cary (a mere five miles down the road) to pick up a space heater i had on hold at target.  as we entered the store, the first flakes had begun to fall, to the delight of both of us.  they were big, wet flakes, sticking to our eyelashes and liam's outstretched tongue.

when we emerged from the store a mere ten minutes later (because you can't ever go into target for just one thing, of course) i was stunned.  the pavement wasn't visible.  you could barely see straight ahead of you for the deluge from the sky.  we hurried to the car and my tires started spinning as soon as i put it in reverse to pull out of my spot.

it was then that i started to worry.  i handed liam my phone in the back seat, instructing him to text daddy to get on the road immediately.  i also had him conversing back and forth with all the playdate moms, having him read out their stories of slipping and sliding just trying to go down their driveways.  we progressed at a snail's pace out of the shopping center complex, but all the while i'm explaining to liam -- whose anxiety is mounting by the second -- that once we hit the highway we'd be smooth-sailing.  i fully believed it myself.

but then we got to the ramp ... and it was gridlock.  i gripped the steering wheel tighter, turned off the radio, and wondered how long our normal ten-minute drive was going to take us.  i had liam call chris again to ask what gear i needed to be in (since i'd never driven this car in snow) and turned on both defrosters rear blast to prevent the ice from forming.  and i said many silent prayers as we inched our way home.

an hour later, we made it.  chris's commute took almost three, and ended with him having to abandon his car about a half-mile down the road and trek the rest of the way in his leather dress shoes.  susanna was still stuck at her friend's house (much to her delight), so i trudged there on foot with her snowboots in a backpack, getting our faces pelted by ice on the way back.  but we were home, safe and sound, by late afternoon, watching the sky empty itself -- with more on the way tomorrow.

but we won't be quite as warm and toasty as we could have been.  because that space heater -- you know, the one that was responsible for our nightmare of a drive?  the one that i had on hold at the only target that still had one?  they had sold it -- the last one in stock -- to someone else.

snow joke.

 susanna and her friend kate -- literally the only picture i have of this event (and i didn't even take it).  the entire time i was outside it was either snowing or sleeting and i just didn't want to chance it with my camera phone