Kelly
Nearly a year ago, I experienced the most exhausting, nightmare inducing, helpless evening in my life thus far. I has just started my new job at Northwestern early January 2011. That February, Chicago got 22 or so inches of snow in a 24 hour period, starting about noon that Tuesday afternoon. Having no vacation stored up yet and having experience driving in Iowa blizzards, I felt confident that I could survive the commute - picking up Miles from daycare on the way. WRONG.... The snow wasn't my issue! The problem was the gridlock Chicago traffic - so much worse than I even imagined.
Fast way forward to today.....
There was a forecast of 5-8 inches of snow today. The snow was supposed to reach the Western suburbs by 9am and the lakefront (where I work) by 11am. The snow was predicted to get heavy by 3pm with snow accumulations piling up at an inch an hour through the evening hours. Well, I got paranoid when huge snowflakes were spotted outside my lab at 10am.. Is the snow ahead of schedule?
Call it lesson learned.... I will NEVER make those mistakes again.
Call it overwhelming anxiety from last year's traumatic events.
Call it preparedness piggy-backed with actually having available time off..
Personally, I just like to think of myself as more of a caped-hero or a Chuck Norris-style mom....
This year, I left early from work and picked Miles up from daycare just as the snow was starting to accumulate. I even remembered to call ahead to daycare and asked them to keep Miles awake until I arrived. (planned arrival was 1pm, school naptime schedule 1-3pm)
As I arrived at daycare, Miles was reading a book in the corner by the window as the other kids were spread out on the cots starting to doze. Miles thought he was such a stud because he didn't have to take a nap..
By the time we got back out the car, at least an inch had accumulated on the roof... whoa! I was glad I was already en route home. I headed towards the on ramp to the interstate and traffic got really slow. I was calm and ready. I had snacks and Miles was still on a big-boy "high" talking non-stop from the backseat. We creeped for about 45 minutes on the long on-ramp... And just like in Chuck Norris's world, as I approached the entrance to the closed express lane , my "mind bullets" changed the direction of traffic and opened up the express lane! We were one of the first few cars to enter the freshly plowed express lane!! We managed to get home within the next 45minutes; Miles was still in a good mood and awake. Compared to last year, I gladly accepted the 90 minute, 7 mile commute with my happy little boy in the backseat.
We got home, Miles took his nap and then we went to the mail room to get a package.
We ordered Miles a new pair of "fast" shoes since his current pair developed a hole in the toe. We let Miles pick them out himself. Boy are they fast!
I asked Miles to hold still while I took a picture of his shoes... this is the pose I got!
Want a better picture of the shoes? More shoe, less boy? 
Fast way forward to today.....
There was a forecast of 5-8 inches of snow today. The snow was supposed to reach the Western suburbs by 9am and the lakefront (where I work) by 11am. The snow was predicted to get heavy by 3pm with snow accumulations piling up at an inch an hour through the evening hours. Well, I got paranoid when huge snowflakes were spotted outside my lab at 10am.. Is the snow ahead of schedule?
Call it lesson learned.... I will NEVER make those mistakes again.
Call it overwhelming anxiety from last year's traumatic events.
Call it preparedness piggy-backed with actually having available time off..
Personally, I just like to think of myself as more of a caped-hero or a Chuck Norris-style mom....
This year, I left early from work and picked Miles up from daycare just as the snow was starting to accumulate. I even remembered to call ahead to daycare and asked them to keep Miles awake until I arrived. (planned arrival was 1pm, school naptime schedule 1-3pm)
As I arrived at daycare, Miles was reading a book in the corner by the window as the other kids were spread out on the cots starting to doze. Miles thought he was such a stud because he didn't have to take a nap..
By the time we got back out the car, at least an inch had accumulated on the roof... whoa! I was glad I was already en route home. I headed towards the on ramp to the interstate and traffic got really slow. I was calm and ready. I had snacks and Miles was still on a big-boy "high" talking non-stop from the backseat. We creeped for about 45 minutes on the long on-ramp... And just like in Chuck Norris's world, as I approached the entrance to the closed express lane , my "mind bullets" changed the direction of traffic and opened up the express lane! We were one of the first few cars to enter the freshly plowed express lane!! We managed to get home within the next 45minutes; Miles was still in a good mood and awake. Compared to last year, I gladly accepted the 90 minute, 7 mile commute with my happy little boy in the backseat.
We got home, Miles took his nap and then we went to the mail room to get a package.
We ordered Miles a new pair of "fast" shoes since his current pair developed a hole in the toe. We let Miles pick them out himself. Boy are they fast!
I asked Miles to hold still while I took a picture of his shoes... this is the pose I got!
Pretty awesome, huh?
Miles is a big fan!
Finally, the only way to know if new shoes are truly fast is to try them out.
Oh yeah... in case you're wondering about Nate. He left work about 4 and spent 70 minutes navigating public transit before walking in the door. Unfortunately, 2 packed blue line trains passed him before allowing him board the 3rd train.
See what good a little experience can do?
Here's to making sure that last year's disaster was a one time thing!!
Happy White Winter to you :)
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