The Snow-In of 2024

I so seldom write about personal matters that I didn’t even have a category for this post, and that’s by design I suppose. I don’t have any social media accounts. I opted out of that scene because I don’t particulary like the traits it encourages in people, to share their personal stuff they ought to keep to themselves. When people do that, they’re saying they really care about what other people perceive about them, but people ought not care about that at all. That said, I wanted to record what I’ve termed the Snow-In of 2024 here in North Mississippi. A week ago today the snow came down, about 4 inches worth, and then a layer of sleet came down on top of that, locking it in a sheet of ice, so for a week the roads have been like an ice rink. Schools closed. UPS and the postal service haven’t run in a week. People couldn’t drive anywhere. I was shut-in with my two wonderful daughters, and we made split-pea soup, then chicken noodle, and I broke out my best chocolate chip cookies recipe, and I made waffles and bacon and the best hot chocolate from the recipe that is printed on the Hershey’s cocoa cannister. Having lived in Georgia for the past six years, I hadn’t experienced a winter at all, so all of my winter gear was boxed up, and I had to dig all that out so we could go sledding and take walks around the neighborhood. We even bundled up, put on our backpacks, and hiked a couple of miles to the only open grocery store in town, mostly because I ran out of cream for my coffee, but I told the girls, this is the kind of thing you will remember because it isn’t often you hike to the grocery store. Well, here we are with temperatures above 50, and all the ice is melting away, and school re-opens tomorrow, and the snow-in is over, and I’m sitting here completely understanding that I will never forget this beautful week I just spent holed up with my daughters. I just wanted to record how special it was.