Well, this is day three of being cooped up the house. I've only gone minimally stir crazy, so I've had to find things to keep me busy. I've graded papers, cleaned, miraculously found enough ingredients in my pantry to make sugar cookies and even found powdered sugar and milk to create an icing for them, and I made chocolate chip pancakes this morning. (I think Kyle is happy!) I've watched countless Christmas movies and other movies to pass the time. (Anyone else find it weird that they are playing end of the world movies, like 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, and Armaggedon on TV? Winter weather doesn't mean end of humanity... but whatever. I'm still watching, so I guess I'm just as crazy!)
However, I must say I don't mind being cooped up too much. I could get used to Christmas decorations and views like this. Streets glazed in white. Leaves and branches encased in a sparkling glass cocoon. The crunch of ice under my feet prickling my soles. The sting of cold biting at my ears and nose and tingling my fingers until they lose feeling. The cold even raises the hairs on my neck and ignites a chill down my spine. The vapor my breath creates as I talk makes me feel like I've escaped the mundanity of every other day and entered into a magical ice world. Yesterday, as I was "ice-skating" on my driveway, as my feet glided over the slippery silver, exhilaration and fear filled my veins. I haven't been actually ice-skating in years, and as clumsy as I am, I knew I would fall. Much to my surprise, though, I held my fleeting balance. Kyle and I "skated" to the end of our street to watch cars brave the roads. Down the street a little ways was a Chevy Silverado who was bound and determined to get out of his driveway, but after about 15 minutes of sliding and fishtailing on the ice, I think he gave up and went back inside. Good choice. Soon after, another genius creeped up the road behind us. As I turned around all I could see were her tires facing one direction while her car was facing another. She slid diagonally for about 30 seconds before she tried the gas again, which of course did nothing. Her tires spun idly on the ice, but her truck stayed in the same place. Finally she caught a patch of dry ground and gained enough traction to pull out onto the main road. Kyle and I decided then we'd seen enough so we ventured back home, sliding down driveways and streets and sidewalks the whole way. My feet felt like those tires -- struggling, straining, sliding and hoping for traction.
I felt like an eight year old again exploring the icy paradise that awaited me outside my front door. At one point, I closed my eyes and imagined snow falling and swirling from the sky like mini cotton balls and clinging to the few arms of grass reaching up from the ice. It took me back to when I was kid eating icicles off frozen trees and playing basketball on a frozen driveway, shooting into a frozen net. It only took one shot and our ball was stuck in the glass net that had fused together because of the cold. When we'd get too cold, we'd go inside to make s'mores by the fire. Good times. We never got ice or snow or cold for that matter, in Port Neches, TX, so that freak ice storm some 16 years ago held some of my fondest childhood memories.
This weekend was a nice distraction. Now, it's back to school where I've got to keep my balance for a few more weeks. It's nice to be able to enjoy these impromptu holidays. It helps me keep my traction when everything else seems to be spinning. Happy ICEmagdon, friends!
