My Goodbye Gift from the East Coast

For several years now I have been complaining bitterly about the lack of weather in the SF Bay Area, where I've been living. Yes, it's very pretty and balmy there all the time, and that eventually gets on my nerves. Every time there's snow at the homes of one of my friend, I make a point of being just a tad jealous. So, naturally, as my goodbye gift from the east coast, I get a major snowstorm the weekend before I'm leaving.

And, because reality has a wicked sense of humor, this snowstorm tried to trap me in Annapolis, MD, with my dad's side of the family. It was very nearly successful. I had a plane ticket to fly out on Saturday morning, but with the forecasts predicting between 7 and 14 inches of snow for Saturday, we were worried. Then we found out that my plane flight was, in a stroke of preemptive genius, canceled. My wonderfully kind aunt bought me another ticket an another, less easily frightened, airline. It was an early flight because we thought it best to try to get me out as soon as possible. We were all set to try to drive me to the airport at 6am on Saturday morning.

Now, I'm a bit of an environmentally conscious feller, but there are times when you can't help but appreciate a gas guzzling four wheel drive SUV, which is really just a truck with the bed turned into seats (because, let's be honest, sometimes you need one). Had we only had the sedan available to drive on Saturday, I never would have made it to the airport. The predawn blizzard like conditions we were driving in were alternately harrowing and thrilling. Thanks to my uncle's steady driving and the truck with the clearance and power to make it through the snow building up faster than it could be plowed, I made my flight and arrived safely in NC. And just in time too, my cousins in Baltimore, near the airport, are in under more than two feet of snow!

So now I'm not only able to see my parents before I leave but I also get my first white Christmas, with about a foot of snow at the house, in something like six or seven years. Huzzah!

and now for something completely different

well, mostly different. I'm leaving Friday. holy crap.