SnowJam

I'm sure by now that if you're reading this and don't live in the state of Georgia, you might be aware that we had a little "issue" here this week. And by issue, I mean a gigantic gridlock never before seen in our state (and we have an insane amount of traffic)! Given that you haven't been a on a complete media blackout, you know that Georgia, specifically the city of Atlanta and metro area, came to a complete standstill on Tuesday afternoon. While we were under a Winter Storm Warning, the forecasted snow wasn't supposed to begin until the afternoon. So, when I dropped the kids off at school around 9:30 and it had already started snowing, I had a bad feeling. Thank all that is holy, Steve decided to work from home that day. Turned out to be one of the best decisions he has ever made. I had planned on going to the gym and running a few errands while the kids were at school, but instead decided to head home and have another cup of coffee with Steve. It snowed hard for a couple of hours but it wasn't sticking. I put some hard labor into shoveling out more of the upstairs. About 12:30, Steve and I decided that we wanted Chick-Fil-A for lunch and that we'd grab some on the way to pick up the kids. I kid you not, in the 10 minutes that we made that decision and then left the house, the snow had started to stick. In a completely sane sense of judgment, we took Steve's rental car instead of my Sequoia. I will never be more thankful for that decision than I was on Tuesday. Yes, I have a big SUV and no, I don't have 4-Wheel drive. Call me crazy, but it's rarely needed down here. The rental car has front wheel drive and front wheel drive performs quite well in the snow (obviously there are limits to this, especially when snow is more than 6 inches deep). I'm not afraid to drive in the snow and have done my fair share of it, but not here. In fact, one Christmas Steve and I flew out to Colorado to see his parents and rented a Toyota Camry to drive through the Rocky Mountains in a blizzard because it was a $1,000 (yes, you read that correctly) cheaper than renting a 4 wheel drive. The Camry did great, but that's a story for another day. Anyway, as we reached the end of our neighborhood it became apparent very quickly that not only were we not going to make it to Chick-Fil-A, but we were going to be lucky to make it to pick the kids up in time. Our neighborhood sits on the side of a (small) mountain and the entrance is near the bottom. Cars had already spun out in ten places and people were sliding all over the place. We eventually reached the kids and immediately headed home. It took us 2+ hours to get home and we live less than 3 miles from the school. It was frustrating, scary and mind numbing. Stella and I actually hiked the last mile home because we had to pee so bad!


We were some of the lucky ones. The sticking snow quickly turned to sheets of ice and at that point, it doesn't matter whether you have front wheel drive, 4-wheel drive, you can't drive on ice. And that was the problem with the roads in Atlanta. I had so many friends stuck on the interstate for more than 12 hours, some close to 18 hours. I had friends that I taught with who spent the night at their schools to stay with kids who couldn't get home. Busses were still on the road at 3am. It was a terrifying and humbling experience for our city but you know what? I've never been so proud to be a resident here. The generosity, camaraderie and acts of kindness throughout the storm for those in need was a true demonstration of southern hospitality at it's finest. Yes, big mistakes were made by our leaders, but they've owned up to it (mostly). We'll learn from this and move on. I'm happy to call Atlanta home and to see how genuinely amazing the people here are.


January 31st is a huge milestone for me. Exactly two years ago today I received my cancer diagnosis. In some ways it's hard to believe that it's been two years and in other ways, an all-too close reminder of how quickly life can change. This year, I'm not dwelling on the past by reliving my story. I'm carrying on in my normal, out of control fashion and stopping just for a minute to thank my lucky stars that I'm still here and healthy with the ability to be out of control. The statistics would tell you that I should be dead by now, at least according to research done in the 1990's with being Her 2+. Thank god for Herceptin and the amazing scientists who discovered it. I do love proving those stupid numbers wrong! And that, my friends, is what living is all about :).