Don’t Let it Snow!

Erik's emergency lights in front of me.

I took this while driving home!

I am not a fan of cold weather. As a matter of fact, I REALLY dislike the cold and I can’t seem to function properly when the outside temperature is below 50 degrees. My mind goes blank, I can’t hear anyone around me, and my complete focus goes to figuring out a way to get warm. It is pretty pathetic.

As a child, I would wrap myself up in my comforter for extra protection from the cold. I would leave eye holes to peek out of and then would b-line my way to the car. Luckily, I have an amazing father who always heated up “Fred” (our gangster Buick) ten minutes prior to us having to leave for school. This ensured I would actually speak to my friends and family on the way to my junior high. 

I lived in Ft. Lauderdale until I was 15 years old. So my parents understood my aversion to cold weather. In Southern Florida, we thought 70 degrees was cold. If it ever hit 50 degrees, we would wear two pairs of pants, several pairs of undies, our winter coat and would prepare for snow. In all my years in Florida, we never saw a single snowflake. 

So when I moved to Spartanburg, SC in junior high, I was not prepared for the winters. But luckily it never got too terribly cold. It would get chilly but we only had about 2 snowfalls a year. When I went to USC in Columbia, snow was even less prevalent. If it happened to snow, class would get cancelled and we would just stay in our dorm rooms all day. People in the south can’t drive in the snow…so, you just stayed home.

Well today I experienced my first drive through a snowstorm and let me tell you, it was not pretty! About a week ago, a squirrel ate through my fuel pump. Yes, I know… I couldn’t believe it either but it is true. I pulled into the driveway at work (Mercy Ministries) and realized a substantial amount of gas was leaking from my vehicle. I called Triple A to get my car towed and they informed me that whenever there is a fuel leak, you have to call the fire department. So sure enough, the fire truck showed up and the fireman took a look. The confirmed it, my car had a gas leak. We threw some kitty litter on top and then they gave me permission to tow my car. The tow truck took it to a place in Franklin to get it fixed. So this afternoon, Erik came by my workplace to take me to the shop to pick up my car. When we left Mercy there was a light snowfall. By the time we hit the interstate, the snow started to come down a little harder. Once I picked up my car, we were in the middle of a serious snowstorm. And that is actually an understatement! After about .2 miles down the street I realized that I could not see in front of me. The roads were dark and slippery and I was scared out of my mind. Initially, I wanted to pull over on the side of the street and just hang out for awhile. Unfortunately, the road was so narrow that there was not really a safe place to pull over. So, I called Curl (aka Erik.) I think I freaked him out completely because the first things out of my mouth were “O my gosh, I can’t see and I don’t know what to do!” He calmed me down then managed to get right in front of me. He turned on his emergency blinkers and I followed him down the road going a whopping 10MPH. I think everyone behind us was very frustrated but I wanted to make sure we were safe. Somehow we eventually made it to dinner at Royal Thai. Dinner was amazing, I had some Thai wonton soup (which is great with the pieces of sweet pork in it!) and a delicious Thai chicken stir-fry and coconut ice cream. By the time we finished up dinner the snow let up some and we were able to head home. The traffic was so horrible it took us 1.5 hours to go 10 miles but we made it back safe and sound. I think I proved my own theory this evening, southerners can’t drive in the snow!