SNOWBOUND

         "Unwarmed by any sunset light
                  The gray day darkened into night."
                      John Greenleaf Whittier,  Snowbound



           Snow began falling today in mid-afternoon.  By evening, the ground was covered and more is coming.  Atypically, more accumulation is forecast for the coastal  areas of the state than for the more inland and mountain regions.  What makes for a 'lot' of snow is dependent upon where one lives.  Here in North Carolina, we experience frequency and depths of snowfalls quite differently than in New Hampshire where my brother lives or in Illinois where his daughter lives.  Consequently, what they might consider a  'dusting' can have a huge impact here.  Last night, several school districts across the state cancelled today's classes.  Other counties had 'early dismissal'.  Even in the Deep South in Alabama where my daughter and family live, today's  snow has caused major disruptions.

       I had appointments scheduled into early evening . . . but soon after the snow began, clients began calling to cancel and to reschedule for next week.  Our office support staff were encouraged to leave early as roads were already becoming slippery.
Whether we are open tomorrow morning is iffy as of now.

    Living some sixty + miles from my office, I do not commute every day but occasionally stay overnight in our office building.
By the time my last client session was complete, I knew that the drive home would be unsafe. I would prefer being home with my wife.  But, here I am 'snowbound' at the office, planning no driving until the roads are clear.

    Back when 'dinosaurs roamed the earth' (to steal a brother's line) and I was in high school,  our English literature classes read more than a smattering of poetry... many of these we had to memorize (or as it was then called, "learn by heart").  Some of them I can yet recite.  Though not for memorization, we read Whittier's Snowbound,  a somewhat idyllic story of a family and acquaintances who were snowbound for a week.  Set in the mid 19th century, there were few 'modern conveniences' or distractions. Nor (unlike my office) was there an abundance of reading materials.  Consequently, as the poem has it, the people had lots of conversation and tale-telling. (It is a somewhat lengthy poem; if you are interested, do an internet search by title.)

     Recently, one of my college students from the 1970's responded to a post about 'January-itis' and told a delightful 20th century variation on the poem.  Doug has given me permission to retell it here (although I have removed specific town names as respect to his privacy);

   "Reading [the post] reminds me that I have never really grown up. I still love and wish for snow -at least enough for snow cream.  I rarely get it here [in the Coastal Plain region of our state].              
  My family and I were stranded in the 20 inch snow we had in 1980.  We were in my old house that once was my grandmother's.  We had no bathroom or running water, but we had beds, wood heaters and plenty of wood.  My grandmother was next door in a mobile home.  She cooked for us. We had no telephone service.  Being on the edge of the county on a narrow county road, there was no one coming by.  We were about as isolated as I have ever  been.  But I loved it.  We were there two nights.  On Tuesday, Mother said, 'Your daddy will get us out of here today.'  I said, 'How do you know?'. She said, 'He's out of cigarettes.'  Sure enough, he and I made our way down the road to the nearest neighbor's  home.  They had a phone, so Daddy called his parents, and had a tractor sent the five miles to get us.  The fellow who brought it also brought two other men with him.  With them, and the five of us waiting to leave, there were eight of us hanging on to that tractor back to [town].  From [there] the road was cleared to [larger town].  We borrowed my grandfather's car and got home.  My roommate at Duke [where he had gone to seminary after college] was calling  when we got to [larger town] to see why I hadn't shown up for class.
   With all that snow, that was perhaps the only time we ever had significant snow that I didn't get snow cream !"

       Well, Doug, the forecast indicates you will likely get enough for a couple of servings of snow cream.  Enjoy some for me !

     Satchel