weathering woes

Both sons are safe despite the massive ice storm that has their area covered. Older son did not drive in to Tulsa to take his final since Tulsa is without electricity, but he will make the trip tomorrow. Younger son was at Wal-Mart when I caught him on his cell, so all must be okay with him. He sounded chipper, at any rate.

I drove in to spend the day in my lovely padded cubicle. It was a reasonably good drive there and back, although my favorite kind of driver--written with sarcasm dripping from both sets of fingertips--caused me to have to put the pedal to the metal. I was passing this semi. It was going about 65, and I was going about 70, so I wasn't passing in any huge hurry. Suddenly this little gray sedan with what looked to be 3 young men in it comes roaring up, getting as close to my tailpipes as they could get. (Maybe I ought to remove the Evolve fish from my car's rear end so people won't get close trying to read it.) Whatever their reason, I could see the unshaven chin hairs on the kid driving. So Bonny Blue proved her spunk and shot to 90 mph in a matter of milliseconds. I whizzed around the semi and got back in the right lane, and of course, to prove they also had spunk, they whizzed on around me. In my younger years, back when I was immortal, I would have raced them for a bit, but I just settled back into my comfort zone of 70 and let them roar off into the sunset. Admittedly, I halfway hoped a state trooper was waiting for them somewhere down the road. But now that I have accepted that I, too, will one day die, and preferring that event to be later rather than sooner, I didn't try to prove that my car was faster. It is faster, of course. I just don't need to prove it.

The end is in sight for the semester. I've got another heavy night and day of grading ahead of me, but I should be able to leave Michigan for Missouri without too much hanging over my head, if anything. I just hope I remember to press my regalia and that I don't go off and forget my tam. Goodness knows, it just wouldn't be right not to have my little blue sofa pillow balanced precariously on top of my head. They probably wouldn't even let me walk without the tam.

The ice storm is expected to drift across our area sometime tomorrow morning, so I don't know if I'll be able to drive to school tomorrow. I'm hoping the forecast is wrong and that it all stays south and heads directly east. I don't care if the ice storm paralyzes New York and Boston. They have adequate mass transit. I don't.

Ah, esteemed spouse has gotten home from giving his first final. Guess I'd better attend to wifely comfort duties--no slipper-fetching, but maybe I'll make him a cup of coffee. Dr. S.