Two months after Brian and I were married, my dad had an emergency trip to the hospital, nearly dying with clogged arteries. We rushed home so we could see him in the local hospital there, before he was transported to New York Presbyterian. Brian returned home and I remained with my family for the week, taking trips back and forth to the hospital to visit my dad. Long story short, Brian came to get me the following weekend, and we encountered a freak October snowstorm on the roads. Combine that with a car battery that was obviously on its way out, and it resulted in being stuck on the side of the road, when even AAA wouldn't come for us. Finally we were rescued by a tow truck who came for some guy who was stuck behind us (whom we could not even see because we were buried in snow by this point), and we spent the night in a cheesy motel, ate Burger King for dinner as well as breakfast, and waited for our car to be fixed the next morning.
How's that for a long story told quickly?
So, I'm a little cautious when it comes to bad weather. We didn't travel for Thanksgiving due to a bad snowstorm up here, and while it was on its way out, why risk it? Add a toddler to the mix, and no, thank you, I don't want to be stuck on the side of the road, or worse.
This past Sunday, I was checking the weather forecast before church. I am pretty much obsessed with weather-watching in the winter. Brian has a long commute, and I always warn him of any and every potential danger that could possibly await as I monitor the weather. If it looks even remotely bad, I will hunker down indoors with Caleb and not even think about venturing out. The weather report called for a Freezing Rain Advisory from 9-1. I read it, thought to myself, "Brian is driving. He's a better driver than I. Church is ten minutes down the road. We'll be fine."
Oh, boy. Was I ever wrong.
We got to church just fine. When we left, we headed to Dunkin Donuts because I was about to pass out due to low blood sugar, and so an egg sandwich was in order. Then we stopped at the grocery store, because I had forgotten to get bananas the day before. (These stops are all very close to one another.) After the grocery store, yikes, the roads turned scary. All of the sudden, the guy in front of us started to skid, and then we did the same. It was clear that the roads were indeed a mess. Hazard lights went on. Driving two miles per hour commenced. We kept going, praying all the while. Then some heavy skidding continued. The guy in front was losing control, then we were too, and then the guy behind us was inching toward us ever so quickly. Thankfully, he missed us. I called my mom, crying, asking for prayer, which she began to do over the phone immediately. We passed the guy in front of us so we could have some distance, and we saw there was a row of cars ahead, all stopped on the road. We had no choice but to stop, too, and wait it out.
Folks, we waited over two hours. Good thing we had gotten the bananas, because Caleb had one for his lunch, which we were missing at home.
Caleb was due for a nap, and he has been going through some kind of sleep regression, and he has been up desperately early lately. One day he was up before 4:30. Caleb couldn't get to sleep in the car seat, because we weren't moving, and he was so tired. He was crying because he just didn't know how to get to sleep. I recited his bedtime stories from memory, but he wouldn't fall asleep. Finally, finally, the cars started moving again. We got a little further, and then the cars stopped again, and a car from the opposite direction was telling us to go into the other entrance to our community. We turned our car around and headed back the opposite way, and Caleb finally fell asleep due to the movement. We crawled the whole time, and made it to the entrance we never use, and pulled in. We breathed a huge sigh of relief. We were finally off of the main road. This is the long way home, but we didn't care. Caleb kept sleeping, and when we finally pulled in our driveway, we stayed put so he could finish his nap, which we knew would be ridiculously short. (Any nap other than the crib always is.) He woke up a few minutes later.
We were soooo glad to be home and off the road- glad to all be in one piece as well. We heard reports that others were stuck on roads until 4 p.m., so in the end we felt like we got off pretty easy.
Next time, I won't be such a fool. When I see a Freezing Rain Advisory, we are staying PUT!
