Palace Life, Lesson #64

(Our current cold snap has put me in the mood to write another Palace Life post. It is out of chronological order, but who ever said I was going in chronological order?!)

It was our first winter (oh wait, our ONLY winter) in the Palace, and we were on a full steam fitness kick. All four of us had been working out in the mornings at the Rec.

The night before we had experienced our first "good" snow of the season. The one that sticks around until morning for you to see it.

(If we had ever been inclined to watch anything other than romantic comedies and reality TV on our TV, we might have caught the news every once in awhile. Had we caught the news the night before we would have known that not only was it our first good snow but during the night it was supposed to rain, creating ice, and then snow another four inches on top of that layer of ice.)

As we were hurriedly getting ready to go workout, Renee was no where to be found. A knock on her bedroom door quickly made us aware that she would NOT be joining us because it was too cold. And if we could keep our noise level down so she could resume her sleep it would be helpful!

Jamie, Heidi and I bundled up and headed downstairs. We opened the door and were nearly knocked over by the blustery wind.

"Do you guys really think this is a good idea?" Jamie asked as she stared at our snow covered porch and lawn.

"It's just a little snow James, come on. If we don't go today, we will say it is too cold to go tomorrow and then before you know it would be the end of the year and we would never have gone to workout again." Spoken by someone with a flare for the dramatic side of life, Heidi!

We crunched and climbed our way to the back of the house where my little four door Honda Civic was parked. We all jumped in the car and sat there shivering.

"So, who is going to scrape the windshield?"

We all just looked at each other, waiting for someone to be sacrifice their limbs to the icy cold as they volunteered to scrape the windshield.

"I know, let's just roll down the windows and stick our heads out the side to see where we are going. We can turn the heat up really high and its not that far to the Rec anyway..." suggested the Texan who was still in denial about all this snow and winter nonsense....

"I will do it. We can't drive without scrapping the windshield. It's too dangerous." Heidi jumped out and scrapped the area right in front of the driver's seat and right behind.

When she got back in she had a look of great concern in her eyes, "You know girls, I don't think it is such a good idea to try driving in this snow. It is deeper than I realized and it feels like there might be ice underneath it."

"I am with Heidi. Let's just go back in and try tomorrow," James agreed.

"Are you sure we can't make it? I mean, the streets are probably already cleared. It is probably just our driveway that is bad. We can make it. I know we can. Let's go for it anyway!" I tried to persuade them, but quite clearly I wasn't going to brave the wintery conditions alone.

We trekked back through the snow to the house and all tried to go back to sleep.

No one was successful.

So, the three of us sat in our den eating breakfast together and decided to turn on the TV only to discover that this early in the morning the only thing on was the news.

The weatherman was first up telling about the severe weather conditions we were under, and how there was in fact an inch of ice underneath the top layer of snow.

"Do not try to drive in these conditions. No streets are cleared yet, and it is very dangerous. You should not be out on the roads if you do not have to be out. Again, you should not be out on the roads if you do not have to be."

I could feel four eyeballs staring at me, waiting for me to admit they were right.

I humbly uttered my heartfelt apology, "Okay, fine. We did the right thing. Happy now?"

Then we heard music to our cold little ears, "For the first time in forty years KState is closed due to the severe weather conditions."

I was about to experience my first snow day as a college student.

To be continued...

Life Lesson #64; Even if the funniest thing on TV is the Friends episode where Ross wears the leather pants, one should also consider paying attention to what is happening in the world around them. Even if it isn't as funny and entertaining, it still something responsible individuals should attempt. At least once a week!