More Ice

Carie and I are travelling for Christmas to Indiana where my parents and most of my family live.  In spite of the craziness that marks life in December 2008 Massachusetts, we decided to make our way west.  We considered cancelling the trip more than once, but I started and brainstormed  an idea to have a Facebook school reunion at my alma mater for the 27th of December and figured it would be in poor taste to back out now.

Travelling west felt like desertion of my friends and chrch family members who have gone through so much over the last two weeks.  I’m sure there have been places and times in history and even in recent history where people have gone through worse, but from a devastating ice storm that knocked trees around like javelins to the twin snow storms this last weekend, more than one person I know have gone through dynamic trials.  Even as recently as Tuesday (Christmas Eve Eve) two families I know from Fellowship had been without power since two Thursdays prior.

So Carie and I departed Massachusetts on Tuesday afternoon after her knucklehead school decided to “rough out” the remainder of the school year.  (I know I’ll be happy about that in June, don’ t remind me)  Our trip was great for the majority!  No problems.  No major traffic issues.  And all was well.

When I gave up my driving seat to Carie late in the evening, I decided to take a quick nap as we headed toward our final destination for the evening, Erie Pennsylvania.  Before I napped, Carie mentioned that there were several sand trucks out, and she wondered if they were looking for a storm ahead.  When I woke up, I received a text from Phil Kenney, admonishing me to drive safely.

The odd thing about this text was that he sent it quite late.  If I know anything about Phil and his wonderful wife, Leslie, I know that they go to bed early most nights.  So now it was my time to wonder:

Did our final hour have poor weather in our future?

Sure enough, about a half hour outside of Erie, the roads transformed into a slushy ice skating rink, and speeds of 65-75 became 25-35 in 1.6 seconds.  This transformation, coupled with my GPS placing me in the wrong part of Erie, made for a final hour of hysteria on the part of the Holmans.

Discouraged and tense, we arrived at our hotel safely around 2am.

I have been pondering a post about my lack of Christmas spirit this year, (with  both good and bad ideas throughout) but this adventure, coupled with what we’ve already experienced in weather, tipped the scales a bit.

I have more I’d like to write, but alas, I must go.

Please give me  a Christmas gift of reasons why you are in the Christmas Spirit this year.

By the way, as I’ll explain later, please don’t mistake my lack of Christmas spirit for negativity.  I’m actually feeling quite positive about most things right now, just not in a Christmas like way.

Related posts:

1. Farther from Claus but closer to Christ
2. How I connect
3. True Art comes from Hardship