Mother Nature

One of the great things about working for a start up company is that they are much cooler than the big boys (and girls) on the street. So it was no big deal when I decided to work from home today. Word yesterday was that we were due for up to a foot of snow. On December 1.

The first snow storm here is a ritual of sorts. All the local news shows put the new people on the street live so you can see just how bad traffic is. Most of the time it amounts to about 1" of snow, which in these parts doesn't amount to anything. But to the new guy from San Diego, "please drive safely." C'mon, we've lived here for a long time, this ain't new to us.

So even though there was a big snowfall prediction, I had my doubts. But before I put BigBrother down to bed, I told him to remember to check as soon as he got up to see if there was any snow on the ground.

He came into our room about 6, and hopped in bed. "Can I sleep with you guys for 5 minutes?" After a few seconds, he popped up and asked DW "Can I see if there's any snow out there?"

Moments later "IT DID, IT DID. THERE'S SNOW EVERYWHERE." He was hopping up and down for a full half hour after that. Being around that kind of enthusiasm is really one of my favorite parts of being a Dad. We all got downstairs, and DearWife tried calming them down a little. "It's too cold, we can't go out until after breakfast and it warms up."

Well, we did get them seated for breakfast, and they did eat a little. But every other second one of them would ask if they could go out and play in the snow.

I got a head start and started the first round of shoveling - clearing a path for the dog in the back yard, the sidewalk....it was so heavy our snow blower wouldn't work. My neighbor came over and helped me finish our driveway just as the kids were coming out. Before I could play with the kids, my neighbor and I went to help another neighbor whose husband wasn't around. By the time we were done, the kids had had it, and were inside. Bummer. We sat down around the kitchen table and had some hot chocolate. DearWife used the good stuff. It wasn't until later that I noticed it was mocha, and she had fed our kids caffeine.

So I was ecstatic when I got to take the kids into the back yard after naps. Except neither of them could walk through it. I shoveled off the play set and a path from the end of the slide to the ladder. But by the time that was done, they were too cold and wanted to go in.

While I was denied an opportunity for a snow ball fight, or any kind of winter fun with the kids, it was a hell of a day.