Ice storm

The snow started Monday night. The Tuesday morning commute was slow and treacherous; I saw two cars donut in front of me on the I-64, and wind up facing the wrong way. There were at least 5 others in the same predicament, or simply stuck in the snow on the side of the road with the slow sad flasher SOS.

Any sort of crisis makes for a good vibe at work. We're helpers by nature and by trade, so the worst brings out our best. Whitney (nursing coordinator, on-call supervisor, and AWESOME) ordered pizza for us simply because we showed up. Debbie and Ginny, young active BFFs, got some residents to join them in sledding. Paula (rec therapist) cleared the living room furniture for a game of beach volleyball (breezy music included) with a beach ball about 4 feet in diameter. Kenney, Vanessa (therapists) & Carey (admin assistant) braved the afternoon elements to de-ice everyone's car for the ride home.

This morning, though, the ice and sleet that started yesterday defeated my car. An hours' effort, including hacking the ice with my window scraper to clear pavement, was futile, and when tree limbs began crashing to earth in quick succession with pops and creaks, I called uncle and called in.

I feel like I'm missing out. Free day at home is nice, to be sure. But morale at work is so poor lately that a day of festive "we're all in this together" sounds pretty good.