My Snowy Story and My New Year's Resolution in Out in the Open

So much to be thankful for and it's not even Thanksgiving.

I left my job at the hospital at 11:30pm after it had been snowing for about a day and a half. The shoveling and plowing was now being done "as needed" if that. They finally gave up after 16 inches of snow and nonstop wind. I nervously left work not knowing if I'd be able to get home. I had just finished a 13 hour shift and I was tired and just wanted to go home. I walked through the back doors of the hospital and the cold air slapped me in the face. I began the climb down the non-shoveled step not too carefully. The first step went pretty well. However, the remaining 6 or 7 I slid all the way down on my ass/back. So now I was tired, cold, and wet. I got to my car and started it up. I begin to leave and start going up the ramp and have to stop since there were four cars before me. They were all stuck in the snow. I slowly drive backwards down the ramp and stop. I wait but can't see so I decide to try to see if they are gone. I go up and get to the top and sure enough they are not done so I start to back down again and the tires stop gripping and I begin to slide back down the very narrow ramp. I slam the breaks just before becoming part of the wall and safely make it back down. This time I can kind of see a plow helping get the people unstuck. Unfortunately there are now cars behind me. When I think I see the plow stop plowing I try again to see if the cars are unstuck. Luckily for me they are! Unfortunately, I didn't get going fast enough and begin slipping down the ramp again. This time I forget about the wall beside me and by the time I remember my car's back end is a hair's width away from it and somehow I pull it out of the way in time. There must have been a car angel with me that pulled me out of that mess and up the ramp because I somehow got out of that mess and got to the outside of the ramp. Now all I had to do is make it the 33 miles home.

At the end of 36 hours of snow fall, we got 18.7 inches of snow. On top of that it was windy so every time they'd plow, the snow would just blow back into the road. I left work at the tail end of the snow storm. They issued a ban on driving unless a necessity. They pulled all but 2 plows off the roads and said they'd start up again at 6am. The drive home was incredibly stressful. The "low tracking/no traction" light on my car was on 50% of the time of my 33 mile drive home. I kept the car at above 35 just to make sure I'd keep the car going. Stopping the car would have meant the car would have gotten stuck and I'd be stuck there forever. During the worst part of my drive (about 15 to 20 miles from home) I was in the middle of the country. The drifts were about 2 feet high on both sides of my car. There was NO other cars on the road. There was one lane (supposed to be 2) and about 4 to 6 inches of snow under my car (between the tires) at all times constantly scraping the underside of my car). If I stopped my car or went too slow I would have got stuck and not been able to get going again. At this point of driving I knew I had made a mistake and should have stayed at work. (like being hardly able to make it out of the ramp wasn't a good enough sign) And then there was the sign of the two four wheel drive trucks in front of me turning around and heading back... Hey, I was cold, wet, and tired. I continued to drive but I was scared. There I was in the middle of nowhere with no one around. The snow was still falling and the snow-drifts seemed to be closing in on me. About a mile away from the half way home mark, I lost control of my car. Into the 2 feet drifts my car dove in. I steered the car out of the right snow bank and slid right into the left one. Knowing if my car came to a stop I'd be stuck with no one around. I kept my foot on the gas and somehow pulled my car back into the tracks between the snow banks. Snow Angel? As soon as I left that county and arrived in the next county the roads got better. It opened up to about 2 lanes so I had a little leeway. When I finally got home (took an hour) my parents house driveway was about 6 -7inches full of snow and I just gave my car all she had and the car landed stuck in the drive way and all the way out of the road. Well, maybe an inch in the road! I turned the car off and called it a night.

Today I am sore. My back is all bruised from the fall but I am safe and warm at home. The schools are closed and I need my kid to go back to school before I go insane. They had the day before winter break off because of a icestorm, and now 3 off after winter break because of 18.7 inches of snow and -30 degrees below 0 windchill. Ahhh Michigan!

If the weather ever gets in the 20s my daughter and I are going sledding! This snow can't go to waste.

In other news here is my new years resolution: I will read to my child 4 to 5 days a week with NO complaining are giving her the impression that I don't want to... even if I don't want to. This year will be filled with positive impressions of reading. I hated reading as a kid and I don't want that for Lily. I love reading now and think the only reason I didn't like it then was because I didn't understand how wonderful reading can be.

Her