Let me in! It are snow!
Inside it's warm and cozy and I have a scotch and ginger ale to sip on. Outside it's snowing, the first time it's snowed in Atlanta in a few years. I dislike winter; I'd much rather be too hot than too cold. There's something about the cold that just penetrates down into me and makes me instantly miserable. All that said, I adore snow.
When it's snowing outside, I'm downright giddy. This is good snow we've got tonight, too. Big flakes that shatter into white dust when it hits a dry roadway and stand out on a black wool coat like spring's first dogwood blossoms. I'm not the only one, either. Big men the size of linebackers stare up at the flakes with a look of pure delight. I love that I live somewhere that snow is novel and special.
Of course, when a few flakes fall in Atlanta, the city grinds to a halt. Supermarkets sell out of milk and bread and eggs, because the only way to survive a snowstorm in Georgia is (apparently) to make french toast. The normally atrocious traffic doubles its wrath not because the roads are slick, but because we tend to keep our eyes on the flakes instead of the cars in front of us.
There's sleet and frozen rain on its way tonight, which could make things rather interesting. I remember the last freezing rainstorm we had back in 2000. The power went out in September's and my apartment overnight. We woke up listening to the eerie, hollow, echoing crack of trees breaking under the weight of the ice. The darkness outside was periodically and dazzlingly broken by the blue flash of an exploding power transformer. As it turns out, though, Matt and Stephen had power, so all of us packed up some clothes and our pets and had a campout and sleepover, complete with Sega Dreamcast and cards at the kitchen table. It's easily my favorite memory of their apartment.
Tonight is a good night to be home. I've got a lot of work on my plate and will enjoy taking some time off for World of Warcraft now and again. And every once in awhile I'll glance over at the window and smile.