Snow Day

So here's the short of it,
Today's snow day made me think about driving in the snow.

And here's the long

Today we got a bit of snow.  It wasn't much, but it's been so cold that it quickly began to stick to the roads.  Of course since we live in a part of the country where it rarely snows, no one knows how to drive in it, and it is treacherous to be out on the roads because of the poor drivers.  At any rate, we were notified by 11:00 AM that school would be dismissing early, and by 4:30 this evening the decision had been made to call off school for tomorrow as well.  Since I work on a teacher calendar, I'm getting a 31/2 day weekend.  That should give me some much needed rest. I've felt really good working this week, but as the end of the week approached I certainly began to feel weary.  I hope the roads are clear enough for me to get in for my radiation treatment tomorrow.  It's my last "large area" treatment, so I'm eager to get it done. 

As I was driving in the snow today and thinking about how difficult it is for people here to drive in these conditions, my mind flashed to Dad.  I realized that all those years of being in the car with Dad as he drove in the snow were as important to my learning as the few years that I lived and drove in areas of the country where there was much more snow than we ever have here in Chattanooga.  I can clearly remember how Dad would slow down, steer out of a little bit of slide on the slick road, or downshift to get up a hill. I experienced all that as a passenger with Dad modeling the right way to drive in the snow and ice long before I ever was old enough to sit behind a steering wheel. So I have an advantage over all those folks who grew up here in Chattanooga.  Even if their fathers and mothers were good or excellent drivers, they would have rarely had an opportunity to have good snow driving techniques modeled for them.  I think I was employed in Hawkins County because of a snow story.  We moved there in mid year (mid school year).  There was an opening for an English teacher, and I got an interview, but school was canceled because of a pretty big snow.  I drove about 30 miles from Kingsport to Rogersville, TN in that snow - the roads were pretty bad too.  When I arrived at the central office, the gentleman who interviewed me said over and over again that he just could not believe I drove in the snow, especially when school had been canceled.  Anyway, here's a great thanks that I had those years of being a passenger in Dad's car.