Foul-Weather Friends

Well, we’ve had what will hopefully be called the Blizzard of 2005 around these parts. (I say hopefully, because the only way it won’t is if it gets a name like “The First Blizzard of 2005” or “The Blizzard We Thought Was Really Bad Until The Roof-Crushing Genuine Monster Blizzard of 2005.”) Kathy and I began our day at my mom’s house south of Philly, and had to drive back up to Edison to get home. We’d made plans to stop at our friends Sharon & Andrew’s house to play D&D, but the game was soon called off on account of snow.

We stopped by anyway.

All the way up through the snow, my windshield wipers were icing up, causing us to stop the car, climb out, and de-ice them by hand. The first time we did this was right after we crossed the Walt Whitman bridge. By the time we got to Exit 8 on the turnpike, we’d done it nearly a dozen times – each one a bit less effective than the last.

There were stretches of the turnpike that were absolutely deserted. We didn’t see anyone on the road from Exit 3 to nearly exit 5 – even though we stopped several times to clear the windshield. No one passed us. It was eerie, being alone in all that white and cold. Once we got to Exit 7 or so, the crazies started coming onto the road, whizzing past us on the right and left, far too fast for the conditions.

We thought about stopping at a hotel, but pressed on to our friends’ place. Sharon, Andrew, Emily and Audrey graciously took us in, and we had a great time, eating a great dinner and breakfast, playing games and just hanging out. Eventually we helped them shovel out their driveway, but by FAR we got the better end of this deal.

To top it off, when we finally got to our house this afternoon (for more shoveling!), we discovered that Kathy had left her purse (and her car keys) at their house. Andrew drove up to bring it to us, and stuck around for a few minutes to watch the Eagles win.

It was a crazy weekend – but it wound up being a lot of fun instead of a disaster. Depending on the kindness of strangers is fine, but you’re a lot better off depending on the kindness of friends.

Rob