Its a crisp, frigid January winter day here in Ohio. We started the morning at 3F! I’ve also seen a wind chill warning in effect for most of the morning. Stay indoors if possible it said. No contest there 🙂 The children still made their way to school. I’m sure they will be walking home from the bus this afternoon too.
This is the time of year when gray skies and monochromatic scenery dominates our neighborhood. A slight precipitation can lead to slick morning travel.
But today is sunny and bright. Deceivingly warm and bright. Remember that wind chill warning? You’d question it the way the sun is shining right now outside my window.
We got the vestiges of the winter snow storm that battered the Eastern states. But it started with ice rain. I.Hate.Ice. I prefer to stay indoors, warm and cozy with a fridge and pantry that’s fully stocked for such emergencies. However, that day, we had made an impromptu trip to Cincinnati to visit with family. The entire day was wet and rainy but not cold enough for water to freeze. This lasted right up until our drive back. We were twenty minutes away from home and the terrain changed. Tires were skidding, cars in front of us slowed down and slowly but surely the situation worsened. My stress levels ramped up linearly. At one stop light, the car in front of us was turning left. They indicated as much and committed to the turn. The slow left and then suddenly they were driving off into a ditch. It was the front yard of a church with a fountain still running. The car never stopped. It kept driving on the grass while we cautiously kept to the ice rink of a road.
A few feet later we see another car parked on the left, a motorist rushing across the road and then another car on the right shoulder. Something was up. Come to find out there is a car overturned into the left ditch! Everyone slowed and several stopped to offer help and re-assess. It was also the intersection where we needed to turn left.
We parked off on the grass a few yards away and evaluated what to do next. I was truly ready to camp out on that grass all night if that’s what it took to stay safe. The kids and my husband were of a different opinion – That the roads were not nearly as scary as I made it out to be. We backed out of that grassy patch and took the turn. Thankfully we didn’t follow suit after that motorist who went before us.
Inching along and me crying out every few feet for us to slow down, brake early and test our ability to stop fully, we spent the next agonizing 30mins getting home. My heart was in a furious scramble and my legs twitching with nervousness. I only calmed down when we finally turned into our cul-de-sac and into our own driveway.
I swore to never be on the road again in such conditions. Not that I can ensure it would never happen again but I was sure in that moment that that’s what I would strive to do. LOL
I know this isn’t anything dramatic at all. Nothing really happened except witnessing a general slowing down of traffic. But, the potential of a slide off, a roll-over or a crash was ever present. It wasn’t a long drive either. But, it definitely seemed that way in my mind. I still wanted to share the experience in preparation for my future post talking about anxiety. The predominant feeling for me was an overwhelming sense of doom and despair.
We even moved to Ohio from Illinois to get away from severe winter weather (if not the primary reason for our move, it definitely was one of the top ones!). It is surprising (even to me) that after having lived through a decade of Illinois winters, I’d experience this heightened sense of dread with Ohio winters!
Update: I started writing this post a couple of weeks ago in January. Since then, we’ve had a more severe ice and snow storm stint that closed down schools and businesses. It was every bit as icy and snowy as the weather men made it out to be. See below for a snippet of the backyard fun. Snow angels are a tradition every winter.
We stayed in doors and made a long weekend out of it. A couple of neighborhood snow-blower/snow-warriors showed up and cleared out our driveway for us. And we are back to our usual routine. This first quarter of the year involves more sports-related travel, work travel and more. But as February carries on, my winter-anxiety wanes. Anyone else feel similarly about winter weather?
