Being a native of Middle Georgia, I’m not used to weather occurrences like the one we had last week.
It’s why I can remember when we have them for they are so rare. We still talk about the winter storm that arrived in 1993. Ironically, I was a college student home on spring break at the time. I guess I should have headed for Florida that week with so many of my fellow students.
The way I tried to prevent last week’s winter blast was to think positive. “It won’t be as bad as they say,” I tried to convince myself. “If they’ve been talking about it for this long there’s no way it can happen,” I said over and over.
Well to say I was wrong would be an understatement. Even by early Sunday afternoon my neck of the woods was snow free. Maybe, just maybe, I thought, we’ve dodged it somehow.
A couple of hours later as I got ready to go to sleep I peaked through the blind and saw it. The yard covered in snow. The night time environment appeared as if it was day as the snow reflected even in the darkness.
Snow in itself is not that bad. However, we got several inches and when I went outside Monday morning I knew there was no way I would be leaving my house. I don’t own a vehicle suited for the type of weather we had last week and I am not exactly experienced in driving in it.
Word came from the home office in Jefferson that we would be closed and for us to do all we could from home. After calling co-worker Susan Mobley, who was also snowed in, I hunkered down at the kitchen table with my laptop and began writing stories.
I admit for about half a day it seemed fun to be working at home. I got a lot of work done without the hustle and bustle of the office and it really hadn’t dawned on me yet just how long we were going to have to battle the end result of what had taken place the night before.
By Monday night I began worrying about getting to the office. Even though I only live a short distance away, it was still impossible for me to get out of my driveway and there are some things which I simply cannot do newspaper preparation wise from home.
Fortunately, a co-worker who used to live in Colorado said she would brave the conditions and pick me up and despite almost ending up in a ditch near my house, we made it to the office where I was able to work several hours.
I felt better that night but knew Wednesday would be another challenge as the overnight temperatures had bottomed out. A ride from my co-worker once again got me to work and we were able to finish up the production on the paper late Wednesday afternoon.
We delayed delivery of the paper for a day as I am proud to say the publishers valued their employees’ safety. There’s something to be said about getting the paper out on time but there’s more to be said about being around the following week to do it again.
By Thursday morning I was able to drive (after shoveling just enough of my driveway to get out.) It was a long and stressful week for all involved and even as I write this on Monday the final areas of leftover snow are still visible.
I’ve always known it would be impossible for me to live in the Northern or Western parts of our great country. I could never reside in Canada. The small taste of what we got last week drove that point home loud and clear. The bad thing is we still have several more weeks of winter and as we’ve learned, even in Georgia winter can be something harsh to deal with.
“How many more days until spring arrives?” I’ve found myself asking a lot recently.
Way too many I’m afraid to say.
Chris Bridges is editor of the Barrow Journal, a sister publication of The Banks County News. He can be reached at cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
