Not Just Another Weather Story

When I first met my husband, Chris, I was working as a journalist at a daily newspaper in Pennsylvania. Hired as the paper's "Cops Reporter" (a job I adored), I also spent many long, crime-less nights writing obits, police briefs, and weather stories.

Now, the obits I didn't mind. I saw each one as an opportunity to honor the life of a person who had died and, in most cases, wouldn't appear in the paper again. Yes, that sounds Pollyanna-ish, but honestly, if you don't find a way to care about the obits, you'll go crazy typing them up -- name, date, cause of death, job, survived by...etc. -- every single night.

The police briefs? Well, those were always amusing, particularly when the guys in city hall got to know me and began saving me the good ones (don't ask). And, needless to say, I was ecstatic when I got to sink my teeth into the meat and potatoes of my job -- murder and mayhem and such.

But those weather stories...Ugh! They were endless and painful. I mean, really. How many damn "Blizzard of 200#" stories can you write??? And each occasion was the MOST, the WORST...Get the idea? Never just a plain old 8-inch snowfall; never just a four-inch story about one of the region's myriad stormettes.

Well, in honor of what feels like, in retrospect, a gazillion weather stories, I am NOT going to talk about the weather. Per se.

What I will say is this: Chris still works at a newspaper (in Washington, DC) and was kind enough to go into the office with plans to stay overnight as needed so his staff wouldn't have to brave the roads. And stay he did -- two nights in a downtown hotel.

Did I miss him? Of course! The nights WERE silent around here...and I was snowed in, to boot. But I was glad that he and his colleagues/friends had each other for company. Sounds like they managed to squeeze in some fun, too.

Sunday night, 12/20, Metro finally started running again, and I was able to drive to an outlying stop and bring him home for some R&R. Better yet, we didn't have any more snow (or ice, or rain...), so we could spend Christmas together (a peaceful, quiet one).

One of my all-time favorite quotations comes from Julian of Norwich: All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.

Stay safe and enjoy the holidays.

I'll be back soon.

Not Just Another Weather Story