Thank You Winter Storm Jonas #Blizzard16

Parenting through the unknown,and thank you Jonas for pushing us beyond our comfort zone

As a parent, you want to speak from the voice of experience. For uncertain times, you want to be your kids' rock in the storm. There are times when you feel like your are pretending. Sure, I know what to do when it snows. Yes, I know you need to have ice melt...We will need a shovel to move snow... Boots, gloves, and snow coats yep we are ready..flashlights and candles.. No, you won't need to pee in a bucket (quick Google check).. No, we won't freeze to death... Yet, as I kept googling the weather, and the answers to all my kids questions, I realized one thing, I had no clue what was going to happen.

You may ask how do you not know? You live in South East Pennsylvania? Where it ahem... Snows! Well, I am not a true Pennsylvanian. In fact, I was transplanted from Las Vegas. We have lived here on the East Coast side of the country for six months. The process of getting here and getting settled was traumatic. However, as we began to settle in and get to know our friends and neighbors, we laughed with them at the abnormally warm weather. Excitedly, we posted on Facebook the comparison of 65 degree Christmas Eve weather here and 45 degree Christmas Eve weather back in Vegas. A couple of freezes came through, and we felt like we were prepared, layers, warm coats, even de-icer for the car windshields.

Then everything changed. All of a sudden the news starts spouting different forecasts. "Snow all day Friday and Saturday" "1-3 inches" "10-15 inches" "Winter Storm Jonas" Everyone we knew began worrying about getting to the grocery store. Bread was sold out everywhere, Dasani was a commodity to be found.  It was like living in one of those End of the World movies and not being let in on the big secret. I could not understand what the fuss was, a little snow, ok. So far, we had a couple of small snow showers, but how bad could this be? Fortunately, we went to the store and were prepared because we would have never guessed what was coming. 31 inches of snow, blanketing our way.

Friday afternoon, my kids came home elated. SNOW! They were both still convinced this was a magical creation that I had deprived them of living on the West Coast. I was buying in to the hunker down mentality and had the house ready with board games, flashlights, and movies. My son, who is an avid reader, had to share about a girl in a book who lost power for a week due to a hurricane. Her entire family had to go to the bathroom in buckets and go outside and bury it. (Back in my mind I'm thinking Oh God, please no). This of course disgusted my daughter and propelled her in to a million questions of what can happen. Finally, after a warm dinner everyone tucked into bed looking out into a winter wonderland. I of course, had never been through a winter storm as an adult, was totally not sure what was going to happen. Flashlights next to my head, I wearily fell asleep wanting to be the Rock my kids needed in this storm.


Waking up the next morning, the snow was the only constant..

This was our front door, we were barricaded in for a while. My kids, questioning whether or not we could get out... Well, the answer came quickly um.. no

 A few hours later, the entire parking lot of
our town home complex was buried. The snow
was falling and blowing so fast it became impossible to plow. Later on, we heard the plows
attempted.. got stuck.. and overturned. We stopped trying to keep our stoop clear and just waited for the snow to end.

 Throughout the entire storm, my kids watched with wonder and amazement. This was only the third time they saw snow actually fall. The whole process is a magical and frightening occurrence. Watching the news reports, we discovered we were quite lucky. "Snowed in" wasn't even as bad as some people who were stuck on freeways, suffered with flooding, and even perished due to this storm. Frankly, we are blessed. Thankfully, we had completed just enough preparation to keep our little circle of people safe and sound.

Of course, when kids watch the news, they wonder why. Why did those people die? What happened? Will we die? Being older, this allowed a chance for us to discuss what to do when a storm comes, and why we weren't going anywhere until it all cleared. Both my kids are Scouts, and reminded me that we always need to be prepared.

Well, for many reasons Winter Storm Jonas, I am saying Thank You

Showing me magic in the mess.. One of the many things my daughter noticed was the sound of the trees. She listened to the trees and watched how they "shook" the snow off. My son stood constantly waiting for the trees to dump the snow. My girl was enamored with how the snow sparkled in the light. Gods "Pixie Dust" Jonas, thank you for giving us this moment.

Bringing my tween into my arms.. My son, sitting on the border of boy and teen, spent quality time with me, snuggling watching TV. It takes a rare occasion for this to occur, as he is "too big" or "too busy" for that. Instead, we spent snow day snuggled down, watching movies. Thank you, for giving me this moment.

Constant unknown..The constant need everyone had to look outside and see how much our scenery had changed. Knowing every-time we looked outside, we had no clue what to expect. A gift on the other side of the front door everytime we opened it. The butterflies inside waiting to burst and come out like Christmas morning, created a constant spark of the unknown all day, for which I am grateful.

Showing my family we were stronger than we ever knew. Waking up Sunday, I breathed a sigh of relief when we didn't wake up in the dark and never lost power or heat. Once Jonas stopped dancing over us, we had to find our strength to dig out. This was probably the scariest, most exhausting and most surreal experience. Walking outside, we had to shovel a pathway to get out the door in waist high snow. Even the best athlete would have been winded in this condition. Our itty bitty shovel was our ticket outside, yet even though it took two days.. We made it and we were capable of digging out two cars buried in snow.

Bringing a community together..Going outside when it cleared, we saw all our neighbors in the same kind of bewilderment we had been enduring for two days. Everyone started grabbing shovels, dustpans, and buckets to begin the tunneling out process. Coming from Vegas, we hardly knew our neighbors. Jonas brought our new little street together. Suddenly, we were joking with others about how this never happens. Our neighbors were kidding with my children about being young and capable of shoveling. The noisy teenagers next door shoveled our path after we went inside defeated with exhaustion. Before I knew it, people were coming out of the woodwork to offer us shovels and advice. Later that afternoon of dig out day, a group of college kids came and shoveled an entire side of our car. After we felt so alone, moving away from our family and friends across the country, Jonas made us realize we weren't alone at all.

Remembering what it's like to be a kid.. The stress of digging out, the uncertainty, and the constant unknown was really exhausting. Looking at the serene beauty of untouched snow, my kinds reminded me it was a snow angel waiting to created. As we sank into the snow banks, it was beautiful to forget the cars, shovels, wet clothes, dirty shoes, and just remember how fun it is to be a kid. 

So, Thank You Winter Storm Jonas... I am so grateful for all these new experiences. 

However, please do not return.

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