Call me oblivious. This morning as Aly was wrestling with all of her school books and her costume items for tonight's lock-in play practice I offered her and Avery a ride to school. Aly trying to take the school bus with all that stuff seemed like a very bad idea, so I put on my "I'm a good Mom" cape and prepared to drive my kids to school. Mind you we had not had the radio or TV on this morning, so what happened next came as a complete surprise.
I pulled my car out of the garage and gently maneuvered slowly around the dumpster (This has been a permanent fixture lately as we continue the kitchen renovation). As I backed up the driveway my headlights angled downward and that's when I saw it, the glistening slippery ice that was covering my entire driveway. I suddenly became alarmed at what I might be in for and at the same time I was wondering why the heck we had not heard from the school district canceling school.
I slowly drove all the dirt roads, snaking my way up to the high school. At one point Aly yelled out "There's a deer", so I slowed down just in time for the next deer to cross the road. As we drove on we saw deer number three waiting in the wings. This reminded me of the saying, "Where there is one deer there is more". I shared with the girls that this was a good driving tip that would potentially save them from a car/deer collision. Avery piped up to say "I saw the deer first, I just didn't say anything cause I thought you saw it" I replied, "Thanks Avery".
We continued our slow journey to the school (with the car in four wheel drive now) and our eyes peeled for anymore wildlife. This was not turning out to be the quick ride to school I had planned on at all. Next I got a call from Mark (my husband) telling me that the roads were pretty bad (no DUH!) and he was turning around and heading home. Even with that I slowly continued my drive. Coming up to the main road I was preparing to turn and my car kept going despite the fact my foot was requesting the car to STOP! Fortunately the light traffic (most people were not idiots out driving like I was) and a slow steady pumping of the antilock brakes saved us from a collision. From there I turned into the girl's high school and dropped them at the door of the school cautioning them "Be careful, I do not want you to fall on the ice!!" With a wave and a smile I was off.
Moments later my cell phone rang and it was my girlfriend asking me if I knew that the school had been delayed 2 hours, "Uh no I did not hear about that" I said wondering how the girls were going to like hanging around school for two hours. I was not turning around and going back for them now, the roads were pretty bad and I decided they were safer there at the school then riding back and forth in the car. I did hear from Aly later who told me that they were being herded to their first hour classes to sit until school officially started two hours later. Sounds like fun doesn't it? I later received a text from Aly that said "This is DUMB!" I am assuming from that her day was not starting out too well.
In all fairness to the school district, Mark did tell me that at 5:30 AM when he was coming home from his workout the roads were dry and ice free. Within an hour they turned treacherous and icy. I suspect that the freezing rain happened so fast they could not react in time to stop kooks like me from heading out with a car full of kids. It was quite the exciting morning, and I am hoping that is all the excitement for the day. You know I love my snow days, but this ice stuff is just not for me.
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