Driving to work on Friday morning i heard the weather forecast for the day- chance of snowfall in the afternoon. My eyes lit up for a second: snow! But then, the day continued and i forgot.
Come afternoon, i saw several people leaving for the day. It was 130pm. I didn't think much of it. Then i saw a group of people huddled next to the window. I peered though, it was snowing!!! The parking lot was already transformed into Christmasy white. My reaction was- let's go home, bring little Miss Haana from school and let's play in the snow!!
Unfortunately when i returned to my office, there were a couple things that were already waiting for my attention. I thought, i can wrap these up in a jiffy, and then leave for that day. I proceeded with my meeting. As soon as i wrapped that up, there were couple other folks waiting on me. Wrapped that up, and at 3pm i was headed out the door.
I was barely half a mile out, that 2 realizations hit me. Both with a sinking heart.
First- almost everybody in the metroplex had decided to be on the road at that exact time. And they were being over-abundantly cautious ( yes there is such a thing as over-abundant, also called slow-pokes). The traffic was backed up and inching along.
But then, there was the second thing that really started driving me crazy- the snow flurries had all but stopped. There was still snow on the grass and on the roadsides everywhere, but it wasn't snowing much anymore. I remembered the weather report said it will snow till 430p. It was 330p now.
I felt like such a fool. Why did i not leave right away. It doesn't snow that often here. It is snowing after 2 years. Today most probably will be the only snowy day this year. Oh, why did i waste it away. How will little Haana and i catch snowflakes on our tongue now? Oh how!! Why did i waste it away. Why did i not leave when it was snowing. Could i have not followed up the next day! Oh why did i waste it all away.... It was killing me!! The regret of lost time, for a parent is unparalleled and the misery, insurmountable. To add to my misery a commute that takes me 15-20 minutes, was now almost an hour long, and I was still not quite at the montessori yet.
That 1 hour was amongst the most miserable hours for me ever.
Finally, i reached the school and saw the little girl, and told her let's go outside and play in the snow. And suddenly, with the glitter in her eye when she heard snow and play in the same sentence, all my sadness disappeared. We got out of the school and there were just a last few flurries fluttering by. Immediately Miss Haana and i, both, had our mouths open trying to catch the snowflakes. She even picked up some snow and threw at me. I quickly packed her in the car, took her home and packed her up with woolens. And then, we headed out to play in snow!
It wasn't enough for building a snowman. It was hardly enough for snowball fights, but we played snowballs anyway. We made snow angels. We played snow kicks and snow drops (that's when you make a ball of snow and drop it in the lake, preferably on top of an unsuspecting duck). We made a few extra snow balls to take home and save.
Finally, when my fingers had frozen and were about to fall off, we headed back home. I quickly saved our snow ball collection in the freezer. We changed and got all warm. That's when i remembered i hadn't taken any pictures of our escapade.
So, in spite of much bickering, i bundled up the little girl again, and out we went, this time only till the front yard, took a few token pictures before rushing back inside to cozy up next to the fireplace.
Our snowy day ended up well. Even though it was quite a roller coaster ride.
