The Frenzy Before the Storm

Tonight is a night full of possibilities and hope: our entire family is going to bed tonight with thoughts of a snow day on our mind. Forecasters are predicting that our area will be slammed with over a foot of snow, strong gusts of wind and near white-out conditions tomorrow and the next day. The press is calling it "Snowmageddon" and "Snowpocalypse."


I decided to venture out tonight to stock up on the essentials: Bread, milk, a chicken to roast for dinner tomorrow night. Some cereal. I knew I wouldn't be the only one at the store, but by the time I entered our neighborhood grocery store at about 9 p.m. tonight, it was clear that the entire town had mauled the shelves. I passed several shoppers whose carts were piled high with orange juice, cans of soup and bottles of water. Here's what I saw in the bread aisle:

I checked beneath my feet to see if there were tufts of hair and streaks of blood on the floor: surely this kind of carnage could have only happened after much violence and rioting? And if this was the bread aisle, could I expect the same kind of devastation in the deli section, where the cold cuts and slices of cheese would be strewn about, punctuated with smears of potato salad and spinach dip?


Just as I brought my modest 3 bags of groceries to my car, the first flakes of snow began to fall. A modest beginning to ... what? I admit that I hope this can become a story worthy of bragging rights. Maybe this one will be the one we tell our grandchildren. We'll say, "Yup, I survived the Blizzard of '11. Why, Grandpa and I checked on the neighbors with our sled. We melted snow for our baths. We had to tunnel our way to the garage. And for some reason, I remember we ate a lot of sandwiches."