Welcome To Winter

It's Not The Wonderland It Used To Be...

Today was the first time it snowed since I moved out and no long am a student. It was not as exciting as it used to be. When I was a little kid snow meant a day off from school and fun in the snow. I might build a snow fort out of the piles of snow made by the snow plows in my court or start a snow ball fight with my friends. In high school I had a day off to do more studying and get a head start on projects. In college, snow meant beautiful pictures, lazy days sleeping in and a higher chance of breaking something on the brick paths.

Snow now means checking to see if the roads are safe enough for me to get to work on. If they are I have to brave the highways with crazy Maryland drivers (I have finally realized the reason they are such bad drivers is because they have zero clue how to merge). If the roads aren’t safe enough to drive on (read been clear of ice), I get to work from home. This wouldn’t be so bad except I might end up with a huge cell phone bill from overages and I only have one screen instead of two to work on. I am not sure which idea is worse.

I actually can drive in the snow. I proved that today coming home from church. The first time I drove on the highway was in a blizzard driving from Michigan to Ohio. I distinctly recall my mother telling me to not be a baby and drive like I normally would. Since I had never driven on a highway I decided to get behind a truck and hope for the best. It was a wise decision because soon after I started out on the highway we hit white out conditions and they only thing keeping me in a straight line were the truck’s tail lights. I was finally able to give the driver’s seat back to my mother in Pennsylvania. It had been a very stressful two hours, but I learned how to drive in a blizzard.

Honestly the way people are acting you would think we had been hit with three feet of the white powder and all power had been knocked out. It thankfully hasn’t, but we live on the East Coast. We are far more likely to have a power outage because of a thunderstorm and that doesn’t seem to be a huge deal. Okay yes it would be really cold if we lost power because of snow, but that’s why you have plenty of blankets and jackets ready. I even made sure to have a few pairs of socks ready just for going outside.

Alright so maybe I’m making a horrible disaster waiting to happen sound trivial, but I have been in Michigan and Ohio in blizzard conditions. Parts of Texas and lower Midwest losing power do worry me a bit, but I checked the weather reports and it didn’t look like it would be that bad here. Heck one Christmas I had to shovel my Aunt’s driveway before opening presents while it was still snowing. I was unhappy, but we did get to go to my grandmother’s house.

So yes I am grateful that nothing too terrible happened during my first snow fall. I’m waiting to see what tomorrow looks like before I try going into work. I might just have to email my boss and say, well there’s ice everywhere I think I’m going to work from home, but that’s tomorrow. Winter might never be what it was when I was a child (let alone student). It won’t be magical and a break from the crazy school work, but I can still enjoy its beauty. Right now I’m going to curl up with some hot chocolate and Skype the Significant Other.

If you enjoyed this post (or made you laugh, smile or go on a ranting rampage of anger) please post a comment or share my blog’s link. Who knows I might actually meet Ellen someday.