After the Ice

Atlanta doesn't do well with winter weather. This is the south, so it's not supposed to snow, even though it does, sometimes. Ice is more of a problem than snow, and what happened this week - in addition to the sleet and freezing rain - is that nighttime temperatures have been very cold so anything that managed to melt but stayed on the roadways and sidewalks turned to ice overnight.

I was out of town when all this started on Sunday. Expecting my flight back Tuesday to be cancelled. Checking Delta.com frequently on Monday, but my flight was listed as "on time" so I was hoping for the best. If I did make it back to the Atlanta airport could I get home? Wondering about taking MARTA, or being stuck in an airport hotel. Hoping for the best.

A new inscrutable rule that you can't use your cellphone til after you clear passport control. I tried, walking up the jetway, but got caught and had to hit the "disconnect" button. (I started to say "hang up," and wondered if children now wonder why anyone would refer to ending a telephone call as "hanging up." But I digress.) Tom hadn't answered but called me as I was making my way towards passport control. I'm here, I said, but can't talk. Can't use cell phones til after passport control. Already got caught once. Call you back as soon as I can.

I asked the officer at passport control if I was going to be able to get home. He looked at the address on my customs declaration and said "probably." He said it had taken him 3 hours to get in that morning from Acworth. Good luck going home, I told him. He shook his head and said he wasn't sure he was going home.

Once I was out of the cell-free zone, I called Tom. He thought if I could get out of the parking lot I probably could make it. The guy at park and ride said they would make sure I could get out. It had been just a little above freezing for at least some of the day, so when I got to my car, some of the snow and ice had turned to slush. The park and ride guy helped me get the ice off my car (there wasn't much), and I headed out at about 4:30.

The drive wasn't fun (and some of it was terrifying) but I did make it. Fortunately there were not many cars on the road. Lots of ice and snow left on the interstate, especially on bridges, and Wessyngton Road was barely passable. But I made it. I parked my car and didn't drive again til yesterday.

Kids out of school all week. Caroline and Sarah were supposed to be having their end-of-semester exams, but those have been rescheduled for next week. Watching the dog slide on the ice in the backyard. Keeping the birdfeeders filled, and putting the suet that the squirrels had attacked on the diningroom window with a piece of packing tape, and seeing an array of birds I'd never seen up close, pecking at the suet, knocking the metal cage into the window and making a racket.

Of course, the week of the January 2011 ice event was also the week we learned the name of a third term congresswoman from Tucson, Arizona. On Saturday, the first news alert was that she'd been shot, then that she was dead, then that she was alive. Watching CNN in the airport lounge before departure Saturday night, CNN International in my hotel room, and back to CNN once I was home. On Wednesday night, we watched the President's speech, and on Thursday, we watched the pundits talk about the President's speech.

It was one of those moments when you think, is this the inflection point, is this the time that people stop shouting and start talking, that short term strategy gives way to something more constructive?  Is it a time when we actually have a chance to take action in the long term best interest of our country? I remember wondering the same thing about September 11. The feeling didn't last long, but we did get wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By Friday, the roads were a little clearer, and I went to the office. The House Republicans were in Baltimore, and the news cycle had move on to events in Tunisia (a chance for Americans to learn a little geography). Floods in Australia. Is anything going to be any different, this time?

It's Saturday morning. In a little while, Iain and I will walk the dog and see if Alon's is open. Hoping for something better, as life resumes.