Gone to Texas, Part One

Every time I see inches of snow covering the world around me, I think of Dr. Zhivago. All is peaceful and breathtaking. I always want it to snow. Until tonight.

It's the first time I've ever not wanted to see snow. I had planned to drive to Texas tomorrow morning, and my plans have now been thwarted. Here's what happened (as told to my roommate Carrie, via e-mail):

I must have been living under a cave or too busy packing this week to not know just how bad this winter storm was going to be. Had I known, I would've just left church early today to make sure the drive to Carrollton was safe . . . BUT. I still had to load my car, which took a lot longer than I thought. Thankfully, I had Carolyn and Chelsea to help me, but it still began to snow just as I drove away. I thought I'd be okay, but what I didn't realize was that the storm was coming from the west. Believe me when I say that I have never been so scared in my life (even when I hid under the blankets at night to shield myself from UFOs). Really, I prayed like I haven't in a while, and I even cried a bit. I didn't know whether I should turn around and go back home, but then, I didn't really want to spend a lonely night and entire day stuck in an empty, roommate-less house. (I didn't even really get a chance to say goodbye to it because I had to try to beat the snow. That's sort of sad . . .)

And beat the snow, I didn't. I was okay on I-85 South, but as soon as I got to I-20, I knew I had made a mistake by leaving tonight. The road was completely covered -- I couldn't see the lane divisions at all. There wasn't much traffic, which is amazing in Atlanta. Everyone just sort of drove in their own, made-up lanes, and there were spots where cars had slid or driven off the road and couldn't get themselves unstuck. At one point, ice started building up on my windshield, and I came very close to driving off the road into a very large ditch. My body was so tense that my back ached. Add to that -- my possessions piled high behind me; I couldn't see out of any windows in the back at all.

I arrived safely, though, to my brother's house in Douglasville. It took me about an hour and a half to drive 30 miles.

So I'm stuck in Douglasville for at least Monday and possibly Tuesday. Hopefully, I can drive to Carrollton in the afternoon on Tuesday and spend the night there with my sister and her family and leave on Wednesday. At any rate, I'm not leaving until at least Wednesday. I am actually pretty bummed about that. I don't know about registering for classes now, and I won't have as much time to set up my new place. :/

Here's one final thought: I don't think it was wise to leave my house tonight. If I had paid attention to the Spirit, I probably wouldn't have left. But I was determined to be with my family on such a cold, snowy night. And so -- Heavenly Father let me choose the wrong. And then He helped me fix it. I'm thankful for my family for praying for my safety. (My brother says I may have overreacted, but it was pretty bad out there, and I have never driven in so much snow!)


Thing I'm thankful for: answered prayers