Advisory

Every morning, I lean over Billy, fresh from the shower, my skin smelling of Nivea and Gucci Envy, and I kiss his sleeping face to wake him up. He sits up in bed and takes tentative sips of the scalding coffee I brought him while I apply my makeup. We listen to Z100 and giggle at the Phone-Tap, sharing a cigarette before the start of our respective days. This morning, the local DJ spouted off ten-minutes worth of school and business closings, all due to the snowstorm we were promised as of last night's weather forecast.

I looked out the window and saw only a light dusting on the driveway and road. I shrugged my shoulders and applied another coat of mascara, refusing to let a little bit of snow stand in the way of me getting to work. I'm notorious at work for not showing up if it snows, and I'm determined to not take any more shots over my reluctance to drive in inclement weather.

I pulled on my favorite wool sweater and stubbornly stepped into my high-heeled boots and got in my car to drive. I didn't break 40 mph all the way to work, so it took me longer than usual. But I got here.

And now that I'm here, there's a Winter Weather Advisory in effect until 10PM tonight. The one to three inches we were warned about has now mutated into a storm threatening to dump at least ten inches all over Northeastern PA.

Staring outside through the front door here at work, I'm already afraid of the drive home. My coworker slid into the parking lot, and I haven't seen even one plow pass our office. That means the drive home will be a mess. And, to rub a little salt into my wounds, the Weather Channel is saying that there's a snow advisory in effect, with snowfalls of up to an inch per hour. An inch per hour! And I'll have to drive in it.

There are days, like Saturdays and Sundays where I don't have to do anything, that I love snowstorms. I love to watch it fall, watch it cover the roads and stick to cars, collect in the corners of windows and door frames, coating tree branches and blanketing frozen streams. I love it way it sounds, the pure quiet of snow falling, a huuusssshhhh that greets you with each step outside. I love to curl up in bed, buried in blankets with a remote in my hand, knowing that inch upon inch of snow is accumulating on the other side of the window.

But today is not one of those days. Today, I know I will have to drive, terrified and at a snail's pace, home. I will have to cancel the plans I made for this evening. I won't appreciate the beauty of the storm until I have nowhere to go.