The Perfect Storm

The top news headlines today included the following: "Chicago Blizzard May be One for the Record Books", "Blizzard is Third Largest Storm in Chicago History," "Winter Storm Cripples Two Thirds of US" "Lake Shore Drive Closed as Hundred's Abandon their vehicles." Lucky for us, these headlines mean one and only one thing for us, a snow day. According to my coworkers, the clinic where I work has not been shut down in over 10 years because of a storm. I was told not to get my hopes up, but as news of the impending storm spread through the clinic, I couldn't help but cross my fingers and hope that it came our way. After all, a snow day is just what the doctor ordered. We received an official email that the clinic was closing early on Tuesday and would be closed all day on Wednesday. You would have thought that I have never had a day off before, I was so excited. I had to hang around for another hour or so after everyone else had left helping cancel appointments and inform patients of closures, but I didn't mind.

The storm came very suddenly. It was a combination of ice, snow, very high winds, and power outages. Visibility was zero and I was seriously a little sore today after chipping thick ice off of my car, but luckily I live only a few miles from work and I made it home with no problems. Isaac takes the bus to and from school and he also made it home alright. By 10pm on Tuesday night the university of Illinois had made the official decision to close down campus and cancel all Wednesday classes. It was turning out to be the perfect storm.

Our snow day was wonderful for several reasons. Reason one: we didn't lose power, which is great, especially considering we don't have a generator and our food storage leaves something to be desired. We slept in, ate breakfast together, stayed inside all day (along with the rest of the state) bundled up while watching movies. Correction: I slept in, stayed bundled up and watched movies while Isaac got up early and did homework, had an interview, and worked on projects for Wencor. He did take some breaks though to play with me :) Actually, we took the opportunity to have a little date night at the university skating rink tonight. All in all, it was a much needed break in the middle of our week, and I loved every minute of it.

(oh, and if you haven't seen the videos yet, you should seriously google Lakeshore drive and see the snow drifts that caused all of those people to abandon their cars during rush hour. The city had to send firemen in on snowmobiles to rescue people who were stranded in their cars).