It should have been so pretty. We didn't have any snow in 2013, so we were really craving some, I think. And it came down so fast, but still silently, as snow always does, that it could have been really beautiful.
Except that
it wasn't, as everyone knew by the evening news.
I just want to record how I felt about it. My own experience, for memory's sake.
We left that Tuesday morning 1/28, thinking nothing of it. Forecasts all said that north of Atlanta, where we live, would get 1" - 3", which is usually an indicator that we'll get less than 1". It was cold, sure, and we bundled the kids up in their coats, but went off to school as usual, confident that, as the forecasters had told us, the snow wouldn't start coming down until around 3 or 4pm.
Well, at 9am the snow started coming down. I was safely ensconced in cubicle-land, prepping for and hosting a small online meeting. I saw out the window that it was snowing (pretty!) but didn't really think it would continue all morning. And my meeting caused some additional drama and stress, and I had some big projects that needed finishing -- a full to-do list -- so I was unable to think about outdoors at all. At one point I remember going into the breakroom and looking down at my car (I'm on the 4th floor) thinking, "It's sticking. The car's actually getting covered up. Huh."
At 12:20, Shawn called me.The school had announced via phone-tree message that they were shutting down at 1:00pm with regular carpool, and all kids should be picked up by 2:00 at the latest. He had volunteered to pick them up, and I was fine with that -- I didn't realize until later HOW glad I was that he had them. So at 12:20 he had already left his office and was in slow traffic -- he told me he could only go about 20 miles an hour and that I'd better leave, too.
I booked it out of there with my laptop, of course, to finish all my work from home that afternoon, and good thing. I think 10 minutes after I left, an intersection near my office, which has a small hill, had iced over and several cars didn't make it up that hill. Meanwhile, traffic on the two roads I needed to drive was at a standstill already. As you've read, ALL the offices in all the towns released their employees right around 12:30 -- sheer coincidence -- and the buses were trying to get kids home and the untreated roads were beginning to get slippery. Recipe for disaster. I felt okay in the beginning -- I could keep my tires in line with the slushy wet tire tracks in front of me and I didn't slip at all. It was just slow going. I turned left without a problem. I noticed I had been on the road an hour, and hadn't gotten very far. Less than a mile, probably.
I had called Shawn and he had the kids but he was also moving verrry
slowly around the school (hills), trying to get out to a main road. They
were excited about the snow at this point, talking to me from the back
seat. We hung up and I was so grateful he had them. Then I did start slipping a little. Crunch, crunch, swivel swivel, and my blood pressure immediately shot up, I could tell. In seconds that seemed like minutes, I remembered, "Don't stand on the brake," which was exactly what I'd been trying to do at first. (My standard excuse is "I learned to drive in Florida!") I pumped the brake and that stopped me, thank God, but that was the beginning of the nerves being on edge. I looked out the window and noticed it was pretty coming down, but was only able to think that for a few seconds before the heightened feelings of worry took over again.
Another hour. I called Shawn again and this time I was kind-of panicked. He had to take me off speaker so the kids wouldn't hear, because I was crying. "I'm just a little scared," I told him. He said to keep calm, just drive carefully in low gear, and that it was going to be fine. I used yoga breathing and prayer to try to calm down, and it worked, mostly.
At several points I had to turn OFF the local news radio, which was making me more nervous than helping. They were trying to report accidents and I knew there HAD to be one in front of me, so I wanted to hear confirmation of that, but they never mentioned Barrett Parkway. They just kept saying my county was one of the worst, and then they'd mention tractor-trailers (semi trucks) turned over, and cars sliding off the road at random, and my heart rate would skyrocket. This happened a couple of times. I was imagining all the terrible things. I would get hot, too, and roll down the windows a bit. I wanted to keep the heat ON to keep the windshield defrosted (the back window was already forming some ice in the center) and I was scared to think, "what if I can't even see out the windows?" On the other side of the median, cars were still driving, albeit very slowly, so I knew the roads weren't completely iced yet. That helped my logical brain. Still, when a car in front of me and one lane over, just randomly starting sliding -- we were stopped -- I panicked again. What IF my car was next?
My hands were shaky and I cried a couple of other times. I also noticed that the other drivers around me WEREN'T panicky. They mostly looked bored, annoyed. I couldn't understand that. I kept thinking, "Why is no one else panicked?" And then since we were going nowhere, I started looking at Facebook. Everyone I knew was stuck somewhere. It was now 3:00 and there were still moms who hadn't gotten to school. (School sent out a message to say, "of course we will keep your kids safe as long as necessary.") Commenting on their scary situations actually helped me focus less on myself.
I also called my mom. She helped keep me calm just by talking and listening to my tale of woe, for half an hour. It helped immensely.
Top of the hour, called Shawn again. I had made it more than halfway to my subdivision and I told him if I got there and the ice was too bad (our s/d is all hills), I was leaving the car wherever I could and walking the half-mile to the house. The kids were being good as gold, he said. He could tell Kate was somewhat scared. They'd both slept a little, too. I couldn't imagine. He, funnily, had had to use his water bottle to relieve himself. I had been worried the kids would need to potty -- thank God, they never did. They'd eaten their school snacks. (Oh, another thing: because my morning at work had been dramatic, I hadn't eaten breakfast, and then I left before lunch. I had a few bites of chicken from my lunch salad on my way home but was basically going through the whole thing on an empty stomach. At one point I found a piece of the kids' Hubba Bubba gum, and ate it like medicine -- I could feel my blood sugar lowering, truly. Felt faint. Gum helped.)
I couldn't believe we had been in the car four hours. We talked about which road Shawn should take and I strongly suggested he stay on a main road, and NOT take the mountain road that was all hills and curves. He thought his new tires could handle it but I didn't want him away from commercial real estate -- if he chose the road I was suggesting, at least there'd be a grocery store and other businesses on the way, just in case. He thankfully agreed. I did see people out of their cars at this point, leaving them and starting to walk. To where, I don't know - the street I was on is pretty residential. Oh, and I was desperately watching my temperature gauge. It was just above halfway from Cold to Hot - no need for panic, but every time I looked at it I was convinced it was edging upwards. (It was fine.)
I was approaching our subdivision entrance and there was a car stopped just before the turn, slowing everything down as people went around it. Finally, finally, I got to turn in, and could go more than 1 mph. I went 5. The street was solidly covered but still had enough new snow on top to give me some traction, and I made it home. My neighbors' kids were already sledding. I made it up the hill in front of our house and down our driveway, into the garage. I couldn't believe that, and as I stopped the car I was seriously shaking, and had to sit a few minutes, cry my last tears, and let the panic shudder out of my whole body.
I know the whole thing sounded strange to everyone at home, but this was what it felt like to me. I went inside, called my mom again, texted my friends who'd sent out "are you okay?" texts, and sat at the front window waiting for Shawn's car. Didn't even take my coat off and I was still so tensed up. I should have probably started shoveling the driveway for Shawn, but couldn't move. When they pulled up, I can't even tell you. I ran to the back door. I couldn't believe the kids weren't climbing up the walls. I couldn't get them hugged enough. We all exclaimed. Alex said, "I don't think I want to go play in the snow right now. I've had about enough of the snow!" Kate couldn't believe it took them SO LONNNNNG to get home.
We spent the rest of the night watching Facebook for friends' reports -- several sat in their cars for 10+ hours, walked a mile or more to their homes, or the homes of friends, some slept at the school with their shaken kids after arriving there at 5:00, 6:00, and some helped strangers along the way. No one we knew got hurt. It was impossible. It was unbelievable. We still both felt high strung at 10 and 11pm.
The rest of the week, we recovered, enjoyed our snow days, and watched the news pound Atlanta government officials and our favorite weathermen for the epic fail. I don't know. Who knows what Mother Nature is ever going to do? There's no way to predict that. Shawn got out to his office on Thursday. The first time I drove again was Friday at 1:00pm and I was actually nervous. Ice was still on the ground in some places and my stomach was preparing for the worst. Post-traumatic, I guess.
What a crazy week.
(And then yesterday, Sunday, it was 60 degrees and the kids played outside in their flip flops.)
