Waiting For The Storm

I don't remember whether or not my parents listened closely to the weather reports or that the weather people told of impending storms more than a week away. I do know that I have been hearing about how we're going to have a "big storm" this weekend for about a week now. It was a winter storm watch yesterday so I went grocery shopping. I was told this morning that it was a Winter Storm Warning starting at 3pm. When it started to flurry around 2:15 I thought, uh-oh...earlier than they predicted, maybe it's going to be more than they thought. However, it only snowed for about an hour and now, it's 8:15pm and it's only snowing lightly again. There were a few flakes around 6:30 but nothing that stuck and definitely not the "SNOWMAGEDDON" they have been warning us about. I'm happy it's not too bad and I know that things can change and I could wake up tomorrow to a foot of snow, but for now, I'm just waiting.

I remember the Blizzard of '79 where we got FEET of snow and school was actually canceled and our garage roof collapsed. I remember the Valentine's Day blizzard a few years back when I had to trudge through snowbanks to be one of the only people to go to work (and our heater died).

I like snowstorms. Or I like at least 1 snowstorm a season. I like how it makes everything clean and quiet. I like getting the exercise of shoveling. I like making the first tracks in the snow. When I lived in Florida, people didn't understand that I missed snow. I guess growing up with it, you have a fondness for it.

So I'm ready for whatever happens. I have food. I have books. I am watching movies and Blue Planet II on Netflix. The NFL Playoffs are on TV on Sunday. The cats are snuggling on the couch and in their beds.

I'll let you know tomorrow if I have changed my mind about the snow.

30 Day Writing Challenge--Day 5--A Place You Would Live, But Have Never Visited

There are lots of places I would live that I have never visited. I think number one on the list would be Italy. I love "Under the Tuscan Sun" and would love to have an adventure like that. I've also heard great things about Italy, the different regions, the different foods...it all sounds wonderful to me. I would also live in New Zealand. The pictures I have seen are gorgeous! Also, my ancestry is from Norway so I would live there. I'd have to learn the language but I think I could do that. I would have to be near water though so I probably wouldn't head to the desert.

It's funny to think of living in a place I've never visited, but I have to say that the first time I went to England, I fell in love. I could have stayed there with no problems. It's also a bit strange because I was always seen as someone who didn't like change. My parents didn't take me on a trip to Hawaii when I was younger because I said I preferred being at home. But in my lifetime, I have moved an average of every 2 and a half years, sure some were within the same state, but it was still uprooting and starting new.

When I met my current boyfriend I said I would never move to California, yet, here I am. I had only been to Los Angeles once, on a business trip before, never been to Pasadena or Hollywood for that matter, and now I have lived in both. I also thought I would never live in Florida, but I lived there for a bit. I wasn't a big fan of it, but that's the nice thing about how we live these days. You can easily move from place to place. No covered wagons, not much disease and you can be in a different country in a matter of hours. It's exciting discovering new places. There are always new restaurants to eat at, new places to travel to, new people to meet.  I think home is a place where you feel comfortable not necessarily a geographic location.