Butler Family Bugle: The Anatomy of a Virginia Blizzard

Our home, mid-storm, Saturday January 23, 2016

We haven't been in school for six days and it is unlikely we will return tomorrow or possibly even the next day. Why? Because we were gifted 28 inches of snow and some around us were even blessed more graciously than that. I know everyone out West laughs at the way the city shuts down, but that is probably because they have never been to the East Coast. They probably don't understand the windy little streets with no shoulder. The lack of wide open spaces and the abundance of people. The thousands of miles of road and rail tracks. Just take my word, as a former Colorado-an myself, this much snow is really crippling and SO MUCH FUN!

Wednesday night Nash had a basketball game. When we went into the gym there was a little rain falling, but when we came out it was snowing pretty hard. There was only about 1/4 inch on the ground but the roads were treacherous. Scott and I were in separate vehicles and his truck could not make it up the hills and around the curves of the road near our home. So, the five mile trip from the gym to our door, took well over an hour and resulted in us ditching Scott's truck and him climbing in with me. Now, this little storm seemed to panic all of the DMV (DC, Maryland, & Virginia) because we knew something much larger was looming for our weekend. Bright and early Thursday morning, I set out for the grocery store. I wasn't the only one. There was no bread and only 3 half gallons of milk left in the store. I stocked up on our family's necessities, donuts and canned cheese, disappointed I was leaving sans bread. As I was walking to my car, a bread truck pulled into the parking lot. I can only describe the scene as bedlam. It felt like we were in a German breadline at the height of World War II. The bread truck driver just started tossing bread to the masses and women caressed it while weeping like they were truly on the brink of starvation and that loaf would sustain them for one more desperate day. Mind you, the storm hadn't even started. It was surreal. I got my loaf and convinced the driver to throw in a pack of hamburger buns to boot. Next stop, Home Depot, for paint. I needed something to keep me busy during the long storm. It was equally chaotic and sad as I watched grown men weeping over snow shovels and ice salt, just like their female counterparts.
Then the snow came and kept coming for 48 hours straight and it was beautiful and the world was so still and peaceful. I have never been so thankful for a cozy warm home, electricity that stayed on, junk food, fireplaces and Netflix. We dug out sometime on Sunday and a snowplow finally, semi-cleared our street sometime on Monday. The kids helped dig. They built snow men, had snow ball fights, made snow ice cream, did a lot of sledding and drank gallons of hot chocolate, and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in the fireplace. They played together and fought with each other. There was lots of laughter and a few tears, especially when Atley started comparing Nash's body to that of a Teletubbie. I got my living room and dining room painted. I binged watched so many episodes of One Tree Hill, that I can't really remember where my life ends and character Brooke Davis' begins. Did I cheat on a Calculus test in high school or was that Brooke? I honestly don't know anymore.

Anyway, here are some pictures/videos of Winter Storm JONAS!