on saturday night sweet, soft flakes floated to the ground. after evening church we made our way to breakfast for dinner at a cafe and stayed drinking coffee and talking for a good two hours until finally river's nodding head and heavy eyelids told us it was probably time to go home and get the kiddos to bed.
and then on sunday morning the fields and trees and roads and sidewalks had all been covered in a fine layer of white powder. just enough to cover the ground so that blades of grass were hidden away. river was overjoyed.
it kept snowing and on wednesday it was expected to warm up and rain and wash the snow away. instead, in the quiet of tuesday night much of the northwest coast received a foot of snow, and everything was bright white. everything. we were snowed in. it was all fun and games as we piled onto sarah's bed deciding what movie to watch when suddenly everything went dark and the echo of our heater's last hum was heard. the power was out.
we spent the next few hours petting the dog feeling sorry for ourselves wondering what people did in the days before ben flew his kite in a thunderstorm (read books?!) and shivering in our dark apartment that had cooled nearly 15 degrees. and then when trees started falling, heavy with the weight of snow and freezing rain, and people's vehicles were getting stuck in snow for hours just trying to pull out of their parking lots and we couldn't even boil water (because our oven didn't work -- obviously) and the electric company said "your electricity probably won't turn on until sunday" i laughed a little laugh of insanity and decided it was time to call mom and dad and see if we could crash at their house for a few days.
on went the snow chains and we packed up the necessities and made the three mile trip to my parents' going fifteen miles per hour, staring at the trees all enveloped in ice. it looks like someone had decorated them like that. everything was ... beautiful. like glass. shiny and reflective and slick and beautiful. like they could snap in two so easily. (which is what they were doing, anyway.) we weren't the only ones without electricity; apparently 255,000 at one time from seattle to olympia were without power. by the time we arrived at my parents' their electricity had come back on.
surprisingly, we spent the next few days playing board games instead of watching tv and talking instead of facebooking and reading instead of tweeting. (although some quick pinteresting was done now and then.
after all, i had to show my sister that tree covered in lace) and it was so nice. nice to have warm, homecooked breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for a few days (thanks mom). nice to have someone to talk to at any moment and nice that i wasn't the only one chasing after river and bouncing austen when she cried.
yesterday the power came back on in our apartment (a day early!) and so we packed up our belongings, a little bit of sadness and relief rolled into one, because i was sad i was losing some pictionary buddies to join me for midnight games, but happy to finally be home in our quiet, tiny living room in my own
i'm so happy to be living here so close to my family. i'm happy that my babies get to grow up these next few years with their nini and grandpa and that my mom gets to see austen turn into a roly-poly baby and river, from a baby to a kid. and that i can tell my brother to shut up when he's annoying me, like the good old days! haha.
we sure did get sick of the snow, but last night as the sun was setting and the skies were finally blue and pink again and not white like everything else and the whole earth was wet and drippy and some trees were springing back from their bowing positions (while others permanently bowed, as they had snapped in two) sarah and i crunched (frolicked) in the untouched snow in the front yard and enjoyed the "warmer" weather of 40 degrees.
it hasn't snowed like this in olympia in over 60 years (or something like that) but i'm glad this is how washington has greeted me. because i wanted snow. (and it began on my birthday) and even after all that i'm still enjoying the winter because after two record breaking san antonio summers (during which i was pregnant) in the last three years, a little snow doesn't even phase me.
