When you’re sitting in your car for three hours without moving an inch in a white out blizzard with your husband curled up with a fever in the seat next to you, you can’t help but think about things. Personally, I tried to stay in the present. I watched men get out of their cars and pee in the snow along the highway. I wondered what would happen if I had to pee, or how I would convince Tom that it was too dangerous to get out of the car to pee (what if traffic started suddenly and someone crashed into the back of the car while one of us was outside and squashed one (or both) of us? Or what if the traffic jam was a Chinese-style traffic jam and we’d be there overnight, or for days? The snow certainly wasn’t letting up and there was nowhere to go.
We had a half a bottle of water, a mostly-full tank of gas, no cell reception, a pack of licorice and some gum. When I did get a spot of cell reception and called the bed and breakfast to tell the owners we were stuck- they asked if we had warm clothes. WARM CLOTHES? This was further confirmation that sitting in the car all night was a real possibility, not just a panic-induced-delusion. As the minutes ticked by we watched other cars run out of gas or suffer from dead batteries- fueling my fear and clogging up the interstate.
We tried to keep our spirits up. We tried not to think about how we were 6 miles from the Bed and Breakfast when we got turned around by a Road Closed sign and had to go 50 miles out of our way. We didn’t want to consider how that 50 miles would end up taking us 5.5 hours. We listened to This American Life, but when the third episode was finished and we still hadn’t moved our hope waned. Suddenly, the traffic inched forward. I slammed on the gas pedal and we cheered each time the odometer turned over.
When traffic finally cleared I blasted up and down the mountain roads with huge impatience and fear. I was terrified it would start pouring snow again (it was still snowing- but a more manageable amount) and I was frantic to get Tom in bed and get the hell off the road. We arrived at our bed and breakfast at 11:30 pm- more than 11.5 hours after we left Las Vegas. 6 hours after we planned on arriving. But we were safe and warm and relieved to have made it. We went straight to bed, determined not to be disappointed that Sedona was covered in snow and having highs of 32 degrees (it was 34 in Chicago).
When we woke up the next day we were ready to have fun, even if that meant just being together, reading, and playing Monopoly and Life. We ended up having a wonderful trip, bad weather be damned! Tom and I have been through tougher times than a traffic jam/blizzard, and we know that as bad as things get they always get better. I know we’re so lucky to have each other, and that helps my heart heal a little more.
Happy New Year!
yes AMEN you are lucky to have each other, and we are lucky to have both of you in our lives too.
love you