There will be many shout outs in this post...
At 9:30 am on Tuesday, {being the cool teacher I am} I allowed my 7th graders from our co-op to "ditch" formal English in order to write a sensory language poem on snow flurries, as they caught them on their tongues outside.
Within 45 minutes it was evident this wasn't a snow flurry adventure.
By 10:45, I dismissed my class to their enthusiastic cheers of going home, yet the majority of them would be bunkering in the same place for the night. I fetched Cinderella, KBug, and the three boys to start the trek for picking up the big girls from school.
It never happened. Within five minutes of leaving the front door of school, I knew we weren't going to make it home. I know there have been Facebook and Twitter jokes that this was like Snowmeggadon or the end times, but it was really like that.
In an instant, I was inching past car after car after car without a driver, or sliding down a hill, while another car slid towards me.
I panicked.
My texting conversation with Jamie at 11 am on Tuesday, because phone lines were totally shut down:
J: Hey, don't get stuck at school...
Me: What are you talking about?
Me, Again: Umm, I'm stuck.
J: Be careful.
Me: For real, we're stuck. I'm freaking stuck with five kids in the car. I'm not going to make it. We're gonna die. I'll never see your face again!
J: Turn around and go back.
Me: I can't! There are cars abandoned all around me.
J: Chill out. I'm just gonna hang with the guys. Have fun with the kids in the car :)
Me: What the $%^&;?! (I am honest about my cussing weakness in this post.)
J: I'll facetime you soon :)
Meanwhile, I pulled into a local BBQ place with about 100 other suited business men and my five kiddos.
Dear World,
The reality is, kids from hard places are not quite normal in their reactions to circumstances like being stuck in a BBQ restaurant with a bunch of suited men for three hours in an ice storm. When they begin to dance on the table and attempt to dig the fish from the tank with their sticky fingers, they just crave love, not to be kicked out on the street....
Alas, we still ended up on the street. My sister had contacted a friend who owned a work shed across from where we were, so the six of us trudged over there where we found a couch, heat of 39 degrees, a TV, and chips and ketchup.
The fellow that owned it was amazing and trudged two hours in the ice to bring us a space heater and to pull out his sweat shirts.
We took full advantage for six and a half hours, when my phone died.
Hear me! I thank God that we were safe, secure and semi-entertained. SOO many had it considerably worse, but six and a half hours with Cinderella, KBug and the three amigos will bring anyone to tears.
So it wasn't a surprise when blubbering tears fell as my 85-year-old grandfather pulled up to the back door in a four-wheel-drive.
That man has my heart. At 85, he manages his own business and still runs. He is the only person who will consider keeping all eight of the kiddos, even if he can't fully understand what I'm asking.
He loaded us up to make a two-mile trek in three hours.
We reached home late and exhausted to find my grandmother's pj's laid out for each of us.
In the meantime, my heroine neighbor had made the drive to pick up our girls from school, only to be derailed in a ditch and walk two hours with them home in the snow and ice.
My gals are heroes. So is my neighbor.
James reached home late on behalf of his rock star boss and sons, Danny, Brody and Tyler, only to find the babysitter still stuck here.
Fun times.
On Wednesday my grandparents, worked us home in order to reunify the gang for snow fun.
And I slept for 12 hours straight.
Because He is Faithful ~
My cussing is getting worse and worse since the storm hit. Glad to know I have good company!
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