Previously on "This is Our Crazy Life".....

This post was started in February and is a recount of Snowmageddon - I finally finished it!

I don't like watching the weather reports 'cause they are almost always wrong. So when everyone was in an uproar over a big snow storm that was coming I, naturally, laughed at them all and said that the weather people would be wrong. I was right about them being wrong, but not in the way I thought since we got a ton more snow than anticipated.

My bosses called and said that we were allowed to leave at 3pm on Friday due to the storm that was starting. I went home and then Jeremy and I left at around 5:30 to go plow the country club (he had to plow at 6 and again at 9). In that short time, we got a few inches of snow/sleet but we didn't have any major problems making it to the club. We were done plowing about 1 1/2 hours later and had watched many people sliding down the hilly road and having trouble getting up. We made it down and grabbed some dinner and then headed back up around 8:30 to plow again. We thought about just saying that we weren't able to make it up there and go home but decided to not lie and go do the job. We were also thinking that Tobin (Jeremy's boss) would call and say to not do the 9pm plow but he didn't.

While we were plowing, one of the owners was driving through and stopped us to say "Thanks" for plowing... I wanted to throat punch him. The club wasn't even open and the last of the employees left around 6pm (we watched them leave). So, we hurried as much as we could and when we tried to leave we got stuck in the maintenance parking lot. Jeremy pushed while I drove and I was able to get to the end of the parking lot where I stopped. Unfortunately, I stopped in the sink hole that has been there for as long as I can remember. We were screwed. Jeremy went into the garage to get his towing cable and found that it was missing. I went back out and tried to dig the tires out with a metal dust pan while Jeremy tried to figure out what to do. It took him a little while but he was finally able to find something strong enough to use as a tow line and we hooked the car up to the dump truck and he was able to pull it out. We then began our journey home with me behind the wheel.

We slowly made our way down the long hill and only slid sideways two times. There were only 3 ways to get home from there. We made it to our first option and I decided that we weren't going to be able to make it up the hill because it was too steep and we wouldn't have had enough momentum because it is a goofy turn. I pulled into a parking lot and we switched because I had had enough of driving - I got us down the hill and I needed Jeremy to get us home. We proceeded to the second option. We figured that if we made it up the first hill we would ditch the car and walk the rest of the way home (about 3/4 of a mile). We started up the hill while transformers were exploding around us - I was very scared! We made it about half way up the hill but had to slow down and move over because someone was coming down the hill. We lost our traction and had to back down the hill - on to our third option....Lincoln Way. Driving wasn't too bad but got stopped about 1 mile away because of a tree in the middle of the road and were told to turn around by the fireman that had the road blocked off. That was when we realized we weren't going to be able to get home.

I began to freak out at this point. I called a co-worker to see if she could get in touch with two other co-workers that live in White Oak to see if we could go there for the night. She couldn't reach the one and the other said that he lived on top of the highest point and there was no way we would be able to make it to his house. While I was on the phone, Jeremy decided that we were going to try and get to his dad's house. I was too overwhelmed and knew that Jeremy hadn't thought it through and asked him to pull over. The fire department was just ahead so we pulled in there. I saw some men looking at us through the garage doors so I jumped out of the car and walked over to the doors. I explained that we were unable to get home and we didn't have anywhere else to go and asked if we would be able to stay there. I was crying at that point and they said we should park the car the best we could in the side parking lot and that they would open up the hall for us.

They had started a pot of coffee and took us over to the hall that was connected to the garage. It was set up and decorated for someone's 50th birthday party the next day. I was able to get a rescue blanket (pink!) and started to warm up. For some reason, Jeremy didn't want one too :) They told us that they had a call in to the disaster response team and that they would be coming soon with some supplies to make us more comfortable. Other stranded people started to make their way to the hall and we had a little party going. The head of the response team and his girlfriend showed up (she was stranded too) and brought blankets, pillows, cots, and toiletry kits. We helped get everything set up and people finally started to relax a little bit. We didn't know what was going on but we were all safe and were warming up and that's what really mattered at that point.

One of the guys from the response team was a supplier at the country club so Jeremy knew him. He mentioned that we had gotten married the year before so we were then dubbed as the newlyweds. He set up our cots touching each other in the corner of the hall and made a little sign that said "Newlywed Suite". It was very cute! I tried to go to sleep while a few people made their way to Eat n Park for food for all of us. There is some type of contract set up that they supply food to the Disaster Response Team so we got to order whatever we wanted.

Morning came and Jeremy got in touch with his boss. Tobin ended up picking us up and taking us to his Dad's because it was still impossible for us to get to our apartment. We stayed there until the next day and then Frank took us back to our apartment with a kerosene heater since we were still without power. We loved up the cats and went outside to un-bury my car and helped our neighbors with theirs. While we were outside, our property manager was up there trying to plow the parking lot and the firemen were there but we weren't sure why. After about two hours the firemen started to go door-to-door to let everyone know that we had to evacuate, and it was mandatory, because they weren't able to get emergency vehicles up to us in the event of anyone needing them. We put the cats in the cat carrier, got their litter box and food, packed a bag for us and went back to Frank's house. We called a few times the next day and were able to go back home in the afternoon. We got home and then left again to clear Jeremy's car off and bring it back.

Jeremy went to work that Tuesday but I was allowed to work from home again so I took advantage of that. The whole ordeal was scary and I would prefer to never have to go through that again but I am glad that we were together.