A Snowy Mess

I've never been a snow hater. Sure, it slows things down. It's cold. It's wet. But, in a way, it soothes me. I love the way the snow muffles the surrounding sounds and how it blankets and softens nature's lines. Mostly, I love the hot chocolate it gives me permission to drink and justification for climbing into a steaming hot bath. For those reasons, I wasn't dreading the forecast predicting snow everyday this week.

It began yesterday about the time I picked the boys up at the bus stop. The roads were covered in a mere skiff then and, as I didn't leave my house again, enjoyed a pleasant chili dinner, helped the boys finish their chores and once Jay got home, spent the evening wishing, hoping and celebrating when Jay learned his team earned its way into his work's fantasy football superbowl (Thanks Donovan McNabb!).

Jay was on call last night and although the evening was quiet (only one call came in before 11:00) the ER called him at 3:00 AM with a patient who needed an emergency procedure to save his leg (or foot. The loss of either warranted haste on Jay's part).

The series of phone calls between the E.R, the surgeon and Jay took me in and out of consciousness but it wasn't until the garage doors kept opening and closing and I could hear Jay's fretful conversation on the phone that I finally became aware of Jay's snowy plight.

At 3:00 AM, none of the roads in our neighborhood had been plowed and Jay couldn't get out. He tried his car first and got stuck. He abandoned it on the road in front of our house and came back for my van and got stuck again, this time even further from the house.

I wasn't the only one alerted to Jay's comings and goings. Henry also woke up and in an attempt to get him to go back to sleep, I cuddled with him in my bed all the while wondering what in the world was going on.

Finally, at 4:30, I put Henry back in his crib, went down to the garage and found Jay out in front of our house digging his car out. Ignoring his protests, I put on some snow pants, my boots, a hat and gloves and took turns shovelling a path that would allow his little Volkswagen Passat to recover in the comfort of our garage.

By 5:00, Jay's car was in but he had long before called another Radiologist in his practice to handle the emergency procedure. If you know Jay at all, you know making that call and asking for help was the worst part of his long, cold night.

We got an automated call at 5:30 am, telling us that school was canceled and when Seth and Sam woke before 7:00, I told them to be as quiet as possible and go play the Wii. We both woke up around 9:00 feeling like we'd been drugged. It was a rough night.

Jay immediately set out to go rescue our abandoned van about a 1/2 mile away and was pleasantly surprised by John, Michelle's husband, and their oldest son, Gabe, with a heavy truck if he needed a tow and some extra shovels. As they don't exactly live next door, it was beyond nice of them.

The van made it home and the day has felt like a preview to the upcoming two week Christmas vacation. Fun...but hard. I think the boys have had a good time playing outside. The plows came and created a perfect sledding hill and I smiled as I watched them enjoy their Winter Wonderland from the warmth of my living room window.

From my indoor perch.

I did go outside for a bit in an attempt to get a better picture.

Both Seth and Sam were very sweet with Henry, making sure he had plenty of sledding opportunities.

Seth passes them on the left

A crash at the bottom.

Jay had signed up to ring the bell for the Salvation Army at a local grocery store several weeks ago and nearly froze after jing-a-jangling for two hours. Seth is there now, with his Cub Scout pack, and I am dreading heading out on the icy roads tonight for a RS presidency meeting and concert.

Can you spare some change???

That hot bath will have to wait until later.