Photos from this winter
will be scanty.
Sun has been scanty.
Snow has been scanty.
*******
Doug and Nathan survived the annual BSA survival test:
Okpic camp out.
See this post to find the details of the thing from last year,
that will save me some words.
Words, this winter, are scanty.
What actually tried Nathan most,
No.
What tried me the most,
was leaving at 6:20 on Saturday morning
headed to the nearest real city to take the SAT.
We planned. Oh did we plan.
We studied Google Earth. We printed from Google Maps.
The State Police site was visited to check road conditions,
which were not good because, of course,
that was the weekend IT SNOWED.
Really snowed. Schools closed Friday.
Temps (finally) hovered closer to zero.
I checked Collegeboard every hour
watching, hoping to find the test rescheduled
due to inclement weather.
My last check at 5:50 am forced me to realize
the kid was going to drive an hour east,
where "inclement" weather had not suspended the test.
That is because the folks who make the decision
live in a high rise condo, surrounded by concrete that is
getting plowed every 6 minutes and
do not know what The Snow Machine is.
Or what it produces.
Nor did they look at their roster and say
"Oh we have a newly *17 year old boy
driving in from the lake and according to the
Department of Transportation
the road conditions are dangerous and the wind chill alone
would cause severe health problems should he go in the ditch
and lose power to his vehicle,
rendering him alone and vulnerable because
HE DOES NOT DRESS FOR WINTER."
And so. Loaded with pancakes, toting, pencils, calculator,
cash for parking, phone, directions, water bottle and
wearing an Under Armor hooded sweatshirt-
he pulled out at 6:25.
Also note that he was loaded with gear
for Okpic along with ground coffee that Doug forgot
(and toilet paper)
as he would be trekking to Gerber directly
after finishing his test.
I sat drinking coffee, (I think I even asked if he would like some,
which by the way, he does not drink and doing so for the first time
on SAT morning was not in the recommendations labeled
"how to make test day a success").
Time really does crawl
when waiting for someone to arrive.
From afar or to their destination.
I REALLY REALLY wanted to call his phone
but I knew he would not answer if he was driving,
which would begin a whole series of "what ifs" fired straight at me.
Of course he arrived safe and sound.
And early.
And found parking on the street.
And had tons of change for the parking meter.
I could finally sleep.
*Photos from birthday
**This completes Part 1 of Nathans Travels.
Watch for Part II coming soon**
2 comments:
Hahaha...love it!! I think though that after the first "inclement" you should have used a different adjective. It sticks out obtrusively, but the word itself is strong.:)I admire the part where you stated that he would be rendered alone and vulnerable if Nathan went in the ditch!!:)
I put the second one in quotation marks though. It suggests that this was more than mere inclement weather.
Ya.
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