Reflection in the Snow.

Hmmm, can you tell I'm snowed in? Time is of the essence when you're in school after school so I have to go with it today...

For snowpocalypse 1 (12/19/2009, in case you aren't from around here...tagline: PANIC!!!), I reluctantly appeased my season-worn worrier of a mother and came to Delaware early, missing the snow in DC, much to my chagrin. I enjoyed a nostalgic snowy weekend with my family (only now that I'm in nursing school I was slightly more uptight watching my Dad and trying to making sure he didn't over exert himself with the shovel and give himself a coronary spasm... but thats an aside. They are in that age group you know....). Anyway, we got our big snow storm to relive our childhood and give us a blizzard to talk about for the decade (the 2000s were decidedly lacking in the snow department...). Despite missing the action in DC (did you hear about the U-Street snowball fight?), I was contented with this winter's precipitation. Imagine my excitement when, upon my return from South Africa week two in January, I find out I've missed a storm, only to have another little one come our way on the weekend. Perfect handful of inches and it gave me an excuse to hole up and get some work done (and really there was no plowing). Then, on the following Wednesday we get another couple inches. Season complete? No, there is more, and Snowpocalypse 2* was born, forecast and arrived. My excitement was palpable (and not just because I am reading about complex cardiac care...) but these storms are almost better than travel because they bring the new, exciting experience to you.... and, like travel, what an interesting cultural analysis this has turned out to be.

[* I prefer the name snowpocalypse. We can't use all the good names in one year... and Snowmaggedon just shouldn't happen yet. Sorry 'bout it, I can't call it snowmaggedon.]

Inevitably, people were mad ("It's going to ruin my weekend plans!" "I HATE SNOW" "Dear Snow, I love you, but my life was planned and it didn't include you"), people were excited ("More snowww!"), and people were just sick of being inside and wondering about the backlash of missed things. One thing that amazes me is that truly, everything is negotiable. We work around "set-in-stone" deadlines, but snow, with all its magic, shows us everything is flexible. In some ways, I guess, it turns stone into water?

We've always joked how panic sets in around DC at the site of a raindrop let alone a snowflake, but this is unlike anything else I've seen. Let's throw all common sense to the wind in a city that threw all their resources to the first storm of the decade (a few weeks ago) and see what happens. SNOWPOCALYPSE: THE SEQUEL.

I have a cute little volvo s60 with 4 wheel drive. My beloved J.Lo (she has some junk in the trunk...) is the closest thing I have to a pet so it was decided ahead of time (by me) that she would not be going out, so I prepared to spend the majority of the weekend indoors. Over the 3.5 feet of drifted snow on our balcony I watched pickups with plows on the front get stuck and have to pull each other out -- leap frogging down the road because inevitably the tow-er would become the tow-ee. I watched a near 4 car crash (in my parking lot!) as they slewed through our street -- at the amazing speeds of 2 miles per hour, each overly confident and completely impatient to get to their destination, getting exasperated at the "asshole" in front of them. There is most definitely a formula for good snow driving, it combines experience, confidence (but not arrogance), respect for the road (and the snow), and sense.... apparently a rare combination in your run-of-the-mill DC driver.

Suddenly, snowpocalypse part 2 hits and all these people who normally can't stop whining about their lack of free time can't get out of their homes fast enough...and most of them don't have more than 6 inches of clearance under their cars or four wheel drive. Calamity ensues. The storm hit Friday and Saturday and I didn't venture out in a vehicle until Monday evening (I did make a few attempts at pedestrian activities which left me feeling quite mortal and a tad bit ruffled, all of which had to do with aforementioned drivers and an overall ignorance of the importance of pedestrian pathways). One would have thought that by rush hour Monday - 48 hours after the last flake had fallen - things would be passable in a 4 wheel drive vehicle that is one class below a hummer in the "tank" category. It was harrowing to say the least. Luckily my driver had a winning combination of confidence and experience, although I admittedly had moments where I doubted his sense, respect, and reverence for mortality, we arrived safe and sound. On our journey we were bumped around, slid (slewed), and often were stuck behind suddenly disabled vehicles. Pedestrians were walking in the middle of the streets (I'm their biggest advocate, but even I was miffed about their reckless endangerment of others as I noticed --jealously -- their nicely shoveled sidewalk), and cars would pull off to the "side" (aka stop in the middle with hazard lights flashing). Some of these people run our country -- what is going on? By all accounts it was a rapid fire of those absurd life moments, one after another. All we could do was laugh and hope for the best as we barreled over ice and through drifts to dodge obstacles.

One thing I didn't realize until this morning was the logic behind the lawn chairs. Last night and today, everywhere I looked there were fold out chairs. Are those for people to take breaks while they are shoveling? I thought idly. No, silly girl, they are people staking out their spot. They carefully shoveled their spot and they plan on it being there for them when they get back. Is this chair an effective flag for staking one's territory? Would I respect it? If I was looking for a spot, and my only option is one with a chair, or one I have to shovel, either way I have to exit my vehicle to park. Personally, I love JLO too much to put her in harm's way via a scorned shoveller, but I'm wondering just how well it works...

I'm back here at home and waiting for the first flakes of yet another storm that has promised to bring 8-10-12-18-24 inches to DC-Baltimore-Delaware.... this one has decided to come late, apparently. I'm not entirely sure what is going to happen if the recent 10-20 inch predictions come true. As one friend put it: "30+20=50... and that's only 15 inches shorter than me. What are we going to do with all that?"

We'll just have to see...