Winter Storm: 2011

First of all, we hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that 2011 is the best year ever! The state of Georgia, and Andrew's family, got their first white Christmas in a long time. I think I am 25 for 25! Andrew blames me for it, and I'm ok with that! :)

Shortly after that beautiful dusting of snow, the weather went back to normal. However, last week, we were warned that we were supposed to get some bad, snowy weather on Sunday. I'd say most of us were pretty skeptical at first. That attitude normally would have been pretty appropriate under usual circumstances, but we obviously under reacted. Here's what I mean: This is a video of a guy ice skating in downtown Atlanta! Now, I love snow as much as the next person...if I don't have to be out and driving in it. But as most of you know, we Southerners freak out at the slightest sign of bad weather. I saw pictures of empty bread shelves, stores that were out of stock of everyday goods, and my father-in-law even saw a woman who had a cart completely filled with "quick light" logs for a fireplace.

On Sunday night, when said "bad weather" was supposed to hit, we were having a lovely dinner with Andrew's family. All of a sudden, someone says, "Oh! It's snowing!" About 5 minutes later, we heard, "Wow, it's really coming down. We probably ought to leave." We all decided to follow suit, but we had no idea what we were driving into.

In about 20 minutes time, the weather went from scary to absolutely dangerous, and the closer we got to our house, the worse it became. As we were driving, we realized that under this pretty snow was a substantial layer of ice. We decided to go the longer way because it had fewer hills, but we were slipping and sliding the whole way. Eventually, we slid into the furthest left lane...and promptly got stuck. There was absolutely nothing we could do to get out of this spot without help, as we tried everything else we could think of to free ourselves. Luckily, we saw a way we could get to safety: a parking lot. As we attempted over and over to get to the safety of the parking lot, we decided to wait until the traffic died down. Granted, I will admit, looking back on our plan, it seems like it wasn't the smartest idea.

There weren't many cars on the road for the first 10 minutes or so. We just couldn't find a break in which to get to the safety of the parking lot. At this point, all we could do was watch cars nearly slide right into us as they passed, and some eventually made it up the hill ahead of us. Andrew and I witnessed an ambulance rushing by, and the awful thought crossed our minds that someone who passed us had just wrecked. We were terrified and eventually decided to call Andrew's parents. Unfortunately, despite how calm I was trying to be for Andrew's sake, I broke down and cried right as my mother-in-law answered. Thankfully, they weren't too far away. But before they got to us, we had our closest call yet.

A bus was coming up behind Andrew's car and I remember looking at Andrew and saying, "This is NOT going to be good." Literally RIGHT after it passed us, the bus lost its traction and started sliding sideways! It started veering dangerously close to a car that was stuck in front of us. Not surprisingly, it slid right into the car and took the car with it as it continued to slide! I couldn't believe how lucky we were, and I prayed for the safety of the car owners and those people on the bus.

Andrew and I were so glad to see my father-in-law's truck coming up behind us. After scraping away at the ice and snow covering our wheels and windows, and with help from my father-in-law and a good Samaritan, we made it into the parking lot! We walked across the three lanes once we parked the car and got in the truck. We were safely taken back to my in-laws' house! It was an absolutely bizarre and crazy night, but we all feel so lucky that we were safe!

Everything has just about thawed now, and the town that was shut down for almost a week is finally getting some life back. However, I am so thankful for my in-laws, my sister-in-law, and that good Samaritan. I learned an important lesson. Next time, I think I'll be joining the over-reactors and contributing to the clearing out of the bread aisle...