The Virginia Blogs: OMG. OMG. SNOW. OMG.

*Insert Virginians running around waving their arms in maddness here.*

I woke up the other morning and it was very quiet. Very quiet. I rather liked it, as usually I'm awakened by a neighbor blaring their music* or horns being honked for pick-ups. I got out of bed, took my shower, realized I had not bought Tom a Valentine's card** and tried to leave the house early.

I got my lunch together, threw on my coat, and opened the door 20 minutes early!

"Oh, how pretty. It snowed."

Since we haven't had much snow to speak of in the past two years, anywhere I've lived, I've forgotten what snow-quiet sounds like. This was it. This was snow quiet in Virginia.

First, let's deal with the fact that I didn't have my snow brush in the car. I had to take everything out of the car when they came to ship it. Second, I had a container of mini-cheesecakes in my had and I couldn't find the damn door handle.

After I freeze my hand off attempting to open the car door, I thing to myself, I have no idea where that snow brush is, so I'll use my coat sleeve to clean off the car!

Brilliant!

About 3 minutes after I start***, my coat is soaked from wrist to shoulder, there is snow in shoes, my hand is frozen and I'm not doing a really good job of this, I decide that this was not so brilliant after all.

I shut off the car, I get back in the house****, I change my coat and I spot the snow brush laying on the floor next to the couch.***** I grab the snow brush, lock up the house again and finish the job properly. I hop in the car and off I go.

Here, I should mention that there is NO SNOW on the streets at all. A little ice here and there from where it melted and refroze, but nothing you can't handle with a little caution.

Nothing I can't handle.

Everyone was driving at about 10 miles an hour. The traffic was backed up everywhere. I started to head for the Walgreens to get Tom's card, but about one block down the road, I realized that it was a bad idea to try and do that right now. I turned around and headed back for the road that takes me straight to work.

Dead stopped.

I shut off my iPod and turn on the radio to see if I can catch a traffic report. Did I ever.

Four of the eight exits I would have passed on the highway were shut down. The road I had been heading for to get his card, shut down. The bridges? One stuck open, two other shut down. And the road I was on? Completely blocked because the other roads were shut down. Plus a major accident by the bridge that was stuck open.

I called in late and stopped to get the card anyway.

So, please, Virginia, if you could. Don't freak out at snow. It's just snow. You get ice storms down here that are about 1000 times worse than snow. Just drive carefully.

Sheesh.
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*Oh, yeah. Six AM and someone has a beatbox going somewhere in the court.
**It's very hard to buy your husband a card when you can't run out because he's there and if you run out he'll want to go with you.
***and about 2:50 after I realize that the snow if 3" deep on my car...
****Let's not talk about the front door know and how getting it to do what you want it to takes about 5 minutes each and every time.
*****You know. Where I put it so I would remember it was there.