lonestar

Briefly during our half-iversary celebration yesterday - I believe we were making the trek outside to switch our laundry from washer to dryer - B and I commented on how much we're ready to BE DONE with winter weather.  On some level, I have always enjoyed winter weather - a snowfall on a December night, just in time for Christmas, a soft, snow-covered scene the next morning, all of that stuff.  This winter, however, is a bit different for us.  I think most of this dislike stems from the fact that neither of us really like to drive in the stuff.  In college and even in high school, I was a bit insulated from winter driving - my longest commute was usually to the high school, only about twenty minutes away (and in the city, so the roads were plowed well), and I didn't have a car in college so public transportation and my legs were the means to get around.  This winter, we live on the west side of town and are often traveling around the city or beyond, and we really, truly, honestly don't enjoy a snowy commute.  

Last weekend's commute from Minnesota didn't help matters much either......
We were in the Twin Cities, visiting a dear friend of mine and bridesmaid in our wedding.  She is a director/manager for a summer camp in Twin Cities suburbia and I've always wanted to go and see where she works, since I've heard so much about it!  She also snagged us tickets to go to the Minnesota Wild NHL game while we were there, so we really couldn't resist.  

The weekend was wonderful - an easy, albeit long, drive to the Cities, with a short stopover in Eau Claire to visit my sister and her boyfriend, who were celebrating Valentine's Day there.  The only time we encountered traffic issues was when we got onto 494 to wind around the city, and even then it was only but a brief time.  Saturday was wonderful, being able to see her in her element amongst her campers and then taking in a late dinner to catch up on things.  We eventually came back to her place and proceeded to enjoy "Evan Almighty" and Guitar Hero into the wee hours of the night - something our "old married bones" don't do very often!  :-)  Sunday morning was rightly spent at Holy Mass, singing the final Gloria before Easter and disbelieving that we were truly about to enter into the Holy Season of Lent just days later.  Following Mass, we went to lunch, caught up some more (we were also with an old high school classmate of mine, a law student in the cities, who had a second ticket for B), and before long, it was off to the arena.  


The game was really enjoyable - I hadn't ever been to an NHL match before so it was quite the experience for B and me.  The Wild enjoyed a considerable lead throughout the game and eventually beat Vancouver, 6-2.  All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon, spent with friends who we don't often get to see.  

As we were leaving the arena amidst the throngs of people, I saw it - that old familiar whitish haze in the sky during a considerable snowfall.  I couldn't believe my eyes - we had just talked earlier in the day about how the Twin Cities metro area was supposed to get snow, but only a dusting of one to two inches.  What I saw before me was probably already a good inch of accumulated snowfall.  As if on command, my stomach knotted, and I braced myself for a long, tedious commute back to Wisconsin.  

We started our journey back to the Dairy State around 5:30 that evening, taking things easy on 494, not quite trusting the roads just yet.  The snow wasn't yet accumulating on the freeways and traffic was still plugging along at a decent speed, yet we didn't trust what we saw.  As our ride progressed, our hunches were right.  As we got onto 94-West to head back into Wisconsin, in the far east suburbs of the cities, we saw the first of many different incidents of cars spinning out and hitting everything in their paths - culverts, medians, shoulders, you name it.  Eventually, we saw a semi that had jacknifed. Immediately we turned on the brakes and I'm not sure B went over 45 mph again that night.  As we trekked into Hudson, we stopped at a McDonalds, just to shake off the tension of the drive and to regroup - I'll admit I was a bit hysterical.  We went another 40 miles in about 90 minutes, stopping off again in Menomonie to refresh ourselves.  

As we turned onto the freeway from Menomonie, suddenly, we found ourselves at a standstill.  On the highway.  As we tapped our brakes the car started to click-click-click and wanted to slide, but thankfully held on and we stopped in time.  A series of emergency vehicles snaked through the traffic - flustering us as the semis behind us honked incessantly to signal us to move over - and after a few minutes, traffic resumed.  As we passed the emergency vehicles I saw a State Trooper shuffling his feet on the pavement - it was that slick, and we were driving on it!  It was then, as we resumed our travels after our unexpected pause on the interstate, that we decided we needed an overnight furlough.  We called my sister's boyfriend in Eau Claire, who graciously put us up for the night.  We've never been more grateful to get off the road!  We resumed our trip on Monday morning and arrived back to town around noon. 

This long, winding story segues back into my original thought - B and I DO NOT like to travel in this stuff.  B (who is usually driving through it) becomes very tense - there were times on the road two Sundays ago when he only had his palms on the steering wheel because he was trying to relax his fingers.  In the midst of his tension, I become, well, nearly hysterical and terribly, terribly anxious.  And it was during our drive home two weekends ago, in the snow, that we decided, rather abruptly, that we wouldn't mind relocating to a warmer climate for a few years.  

We're in the process of figuring out where we'll be after our lease expires here - B has started to reapply to law schools, which leaves us in a little bit of limbo until we find out if he's accepted anywhere.  As we pray that God will reveal where He wants us, in our future plans we haven't yet ruled out a "big move" to a warmer climate - likely The Lonestar State, Texas.  We're both familiar enough with Texas (B lived there in childhood and heck, I just really love Texas), that we're starting to pray about the possibility of moving, regardless if B gets into law school there.  In these first initial stages, there's a great deal of excitement - anticipating a move, complete with a new city, new people, new church, all of it.  And in the back of my mind there's just a tiny slice of fear - fear of the unknown, fear of being that far from my own family, fear of not having a support system there like we do here.  In spite of my excitement and in spite of my fear, it is a comfort to know that God knows where we'll be, and that He will reveal His plan, in His time.  

How great is He.