Salute to those who braved the arctic air

I thought I knew what cold felt like until last week, but the blast of frigid arctic air that hit our region late Thursday night taught me otherwise.

Like many others, when the sun went down last Thursday I was wondering if things were really going to get as bad as some weather reports had been predicting. I had expected more precipitation than we had seen up to that point, so I started thinking, “Maybe we wake up tomorrow and things aren’t that bad after all…”

As it turns out, we did receive additional precipitation during the overnight hours Thursday, which made for slick driving conditions once the temperatures plummeted. And boy, did they ever plummet.

I was content to sit in the house all day Friday, but a sick child forced my hand and I found myself making the trip into town to visit the nearest urgent care center.

When I first stepped outside I noticed that there was just something different about this air. It was cold, but on a whole different level than I can ever remember experiencing before. The car simply would not defrost.  Not completely, anyway, but it eventually got to the point where it was good enough for us to leave the house.

Making the short trip from our vehicle to the door of the urgent care center was brutal, even though it only took probably 20-or-so steps. After about an hour we had received the unfortunate news that my son had flu, and probably strep as well, so we picked up some prescriptions and, upon returning home, I hesitantly decided that I would walk to the end of the driveway and check our mailbox. I went as quickly as I could, being careful to not slip on the icy driveway, but any amount of time at all in those cold winds were just unbearable.

Saturday was a little better temperature-wise, but aside from a brief trip around the corner to grab a few things from the store, I didn’t really go anywhere. We had made plans earlier in the week to attend a candlelight Christmas Eve service at our church, but with the flu making its way into our home we opted to just stay at home, eat something hot, and watch some Christmas movies.

We did lose power at our house briefly Friday night, but it was restored about 15-20 minutes after going out. When the lights came back on, I was so thankful for the fact that we had a warm place to be during the winter storm. I also thought about the many folks who had to be out in the elements so that others, like myself, could remain safe and comfortable during the big freeze.

I would like to personally thank several groups of people for their efforts last week, including the road crews who worked to make the roads as passable as possible for all of those who had to get out. I also want to thank our fire, police, and emergency medical personnel for continuing to do their jobs despite the historically low temperatures, and I would like to thank any utility workers who were called out to restore power when it was lost in various areas in and around the county.

I also commend the food service workers, retail store employees, delivery drivers, and anyone else who didn’t have the option of riding out the cold from the safety of their homes. Your efforts are greatly appreciated, and I hope that you were all able to have a very Merry Christmas!