snowpocalypse

Today is a day I will not soon forget. But just in case I do... here is a bit of my "getting home adventure" with Joe. 
I woke up today motivated for a good day at the office, going out and making sales calls with my team. While I was loading my car up with gas, the snow flurries began. Flurries, yay! It's going to be a good day!

I got to work and we noticed that it was looking more and more like actual snow. By 10:15 the first person was out the door, calling back to tell everyone that the roads were really bad. So we had to make a choice... wait it out or make a run for it? I called Joe and he said his office wasn't going to close. BUT, I had his cell phone so I waited at the office for him to come get it before I left to go get Emmy. By 10:45 he still hadn't made it to my office. It's usually a 5 -minute drive so I was afraid he'd wrecked. I started driving towards his office and my car couldn't even make it up the hill. I managed to go down the hill and get out of the circle. As I approached 280, I realized what a mess we really were in. Snow and cars everywhere. I wanted to turn around, but I decided to at least make it to Joe's office. We may be stuck there but at least we'd be together. 

I made it to Joe's turn just as he called to tell me he'd had to turn around but he had made it back to work. As I was approaching his street, everyone stopped. Cars started sliding sideways, hitting each other and spinning. Without the main road's straight lines and tread marks, people were clueless. I had never seen that in real life. I tried to take another road but it was gridlocked too. I was sandwiched in.

I tried calling Joe but the cell lines were jammed and I couldn't go through. I just started crying. I was further away from my family and feeling so helpless. I finally managed to get a call through to Joe. He talked me through the next intersection while my tires spun and cars slid sideways toward me. I started crying. It was such a shock to see the chaos, to feel my own car slide out of my control. Once I turned the corner, I saw ambulances and firetrucks blocking the road ahead so Joe decided to walk and told me to stay put. 

I went in to Walgreens while I waited. I met a girl with two babies in the bathroom, I told her I felt bad that she had her children with her and that I was trying to get to mine but I shouldn't complain because at least I don't have my child crying in the car. She said, "not having your baby is worse, I can find shelter as long as I have my girls with me. Good luck honey".  I realized she was right, I headed back out and picked up some water and snacks and just started sobbing. I have never been so scared in my life.  Joe ended up getting a ride from a friend with 4WD and I immediately snapped out of it once he was in the car. An hour and a half after I left my office, we started heading back towards our house and Emmy's daycare.

Then the real traffic hit us. Hwy 280 was gridlocked. We moved .4 miles in an hour. There were abandoned cars everywhere and people walking between the lanes and right down the middle of the empty northside highway. It really felt like an apocalypse and Joe and I realized how unrealistic our zombiepocalypse plan really was (our plan was to do whatever was necessary, get to daycare and wait for each other there... or at home depending on the level of zombie violence). 

 As we passed my office again we talked about giving up and staying at my office but we were scared for Emmy and we didn't know if it might get better ahead. After 2 hours, I told Joe to cross over to the wrong side of the road. There were very few cars and it was our only chance to move forward. It was wild and terrifying but it turned out to be the only way to move forward because as we soon found out, there was an actual pileup reducing travel to one lane. 

Once one car starts spinning and sliding, all the nearby cars become part of the pile up. We almost got stuck going up a big hill, two other cars were stuck and we had to move in to oncoming traffic to get around. Then our car started spinning too. I was coaching Joe (probably annoying him) telling him he was doing great and to keep trying, pulsing the tires so we managed to slip through the opening just as the other car slid down the hill through the same opening. Once we got passed that we were able to get back in the right lane and the highway was totally opened up. 

this is someone else's photo and must have been taken after we made it up the hill in the left lane.

As long as we were driving at a steady pace in a straight line on a flat road, we were doing great. We noticed one "walker" jogging and happened to see his face and realize it was one of Joe's coworkers! We picked him up and gave him a ride as far as we could. He was so kind, he wouldn't accept our offers to take him to our house and he even tried to refuse a bottle of water we offered! We called him a few hours later and he was almost home. 

I was so elated when we got on the interstate and found it to be clear (only clear in one direction though)!  The back road to Emmy's daycare was closed just past her school. Meaning, many people had abandoned their cars and headed to the daycare and nearby offices for shelter. Joe and I parked the car and walked the last bit to her daycare. It was about 3:30 and Emmy was happily warm and napping. the daycare has two locked entry ways so they were allowing people to stay in the main entrance for cover and warmth but not with the kids which I was thankful for. We got back on the road and made it over a few more icy bridges, happy to be within walking distance if it came to that. Once we got home, we were thrilled but immediately feeling ridiculously lucky and worried for our friends. 

The whole ordeal was so exhausting. We kept saying, "Why aren't the roads sanded or salted?" "How did the weathermen miss this so drastically?" "What should we do!?" and at the end of the day, I like to think next time I will go home as soon as the snow starts to stick. I know it would have made more sense for me to leave Joe and go get Emmy but I don't know that I would make a different choice the next time. He was my rock, my companion and we got through this together. I was a crying fearful mess without him there! 
I also thought a lot about my priest's sermon last week. He said that Birmingham is ranked #2 as the most biblical city in America. He talked about what it meant to be a Christian and how important it is for Christians to set a good example for ourselves, to disprove the common misconception of Christianity's close-mindedness and judgy doctrine.
 Today, I saw the #2 most biblical city as the most generous, hospitable and helpful city during a time of great stress and danger. People with 4-wheelers were driving up and down the highway picking up walkers and taking them home. Employees at Home Depot walked out in the streets to bring free bottles of water to stranded motorists. Men were walking up and down the street pushing cars that were stuck. Our teachers are staying overnight at the school to take care of children who are stranded. Even Joe went out after we got home to make sure the cars that were stuck on the bridge near my house were abandoned and no one was inside, cold. 

My friends started a group chat to make sure we were all safe and to share the stories of how we all got home. I am so happy knowing everyone made it to shelter. I am also happy that my car was so good to us and that everything is closed tomorrow so people can get their cars and we can enjoy the snow a little without actually driving in it!

Oh, and in case you were wondering... 5 hours in the car without the chance for a potty break? I made it.. Joe did not. There is a part of our marriage that will never be the same after the moment he decided he couldn't hold it and it was too public outside the car.