A Snowtorious Monday Morning

I'm going to try something new today, my buddy pals. I'm going to start posting stories on the same day they happen, and then continue to go through the older ones chronologically. That way it's more fresh in my mind and you don't have to miss a detail. Because let me tell you, a lot happened this morning. A lot. I may have shed a tear. It may have been right at my work desk. And it may have happened in an empty office considering I was the only one stupid enough to drive in the lovely New England weather we're presently experiencing.

Here's a picture from my family's house in Connecticut just for a little glimpse of this ridiculousness:

Hot tub, anyone?

Let me get the record straight by first saying that I really, really, hate snow. I don't hate a lot of things. But snow is one of them. 1. It's cold, wet, and uncomfortable. 2. I cannot drive in it. 3. Fun things get cancelled because of it. It is just a miserable form of nature and there is not one thing I like about it. I've only been out of college for seven weeks and I'm already regretting not escaping this part of the country while I could have. But now that I'm employed I'm a tad bit tied down and kind of want the money. So there's that.

Now, here's the thing: this new job I have is not salaried. We therefore do not get "snow days" because I get a paycheck by seeing clients. So whether or not I work is based on my judgment. I had also been checking my email as I got ready for work to see if there was any word on who was going t work or if my meeting for the day had been cancelled. Over the hour it took to get ready, I heard nothing. So being the rookie in the office, I want to look like a hard worker who isn't afraid of a little white stuff. After all, it seemed as if my coworkers weren't saying too much about it. This was my mistake, as I left for the office at 8:30 this morning in a snowstorm that is predicted to bless us with 8-12 inches on top of the 24 inches that is already on the ground from last week (did I mention I want to move?)

I take my time getting to the office, and had a feeling this wasn't going to end well about halfway down the highway. By the time I got off my exit, I could barely see anything, because my windshield wipers do this really cute thing where they choose selective parts of the glass they are going to clear and sections they are not. So today, the only part they actually wanted to do the job in was the top 6 inches of my windshield. So here I am, driving the little Honda that could through the horrifically plowed roads of Massachusetts, with my driver's seat moved as high up and far forward as possible so I can peak into that little cleared off section of my window. I pull into the parking lot, and it's looking pretty empty. Bad sign.

I walk upstairs into a pitch-black office. This is good. I punch the code through the door and walk in to see an empty waiting room and absent receptionist. Wonderful. I mosey my way into cubicle land, give a little holler to see if anyone would answer, and I hear nothing. Really? The rookie is the sole person in here right now?

I sit down at my desk, and open up my email. While waiting for it to load, I pick up the phone to call my client just to make sure we're still on for today. It was right that very second when an email came through. Not that I opened my inbox. I had literally sat down the moment an email came through, telling me that my meeting was being rescheduled. This was immediately followed by an email explaining that all of our bosses would be working from home.

IS THIS A SICK JOKE.

I just about broke down into tears over my empty rookie desk in utter defeat, knowing I had just woken up after 5 hours of post-Superbowl sleep (side note: GO PATS!), cleared my buried car off and driven to work only to sit down for thirty seconds and turn around. But wait - it gets better.

I make the tearful trip home, and finally get back to my parking spot on the street which has been covered in snow. Out of too much confidence or maybe pent up frustration, I somehow get it into my head that I can just park right where I was without a problem. This was my second mistake. I drive down the street, throw it into reverse, and gun it backwards as if the snow is a pile of leaves I can crumple to the ground. This is when I a) got my back tires incredibly stuck and b) spun the front half of my car across the road.

I said a bad choice word, got out of my car, and begin shoveling my back tires out as another car starts coming down the street. Because my car is taking up half the road, this poor fellow has to hug the edge of the road, where a lot of snow had been pushed to the side. Now he gets stuck, and his back end is fishtailing toward my front end. And all I could do was watch.

After about three minutes of maneuvering his car and mutual mini heart attacks, he thankfully makes it through and continues on his way as I continue to shovel. When I finish, I get back in my car and rev the engine, which fishtails my car AGAIN, this time nearly into a cute fluffy dog dragging a leash behind it. I step out of the car, hoping to find the owner or catch it.

And that's when I saw him. A man in his sixties running down the street with a cigarette in his mouth shouting, "OH F@!#, MOLLY! MOLLY! MOLLY!" Not even thinking about the impossibility that this man would know my name, I apologize, probably looking rather terrified thinking that this crotchety man is swearing at me. But he ignores me and continues to chase after the dog. It's then that I realized that the dog, in addition to half the female canine population, has my name. El. Oh. El.

After making sure he retrieved his Molly, I get back in my car, finally get unstuck, and park on the street. Right about then was when people started coming out of their apartments and moving their cars off the road. Of course - what a perfect moment that we would decide, after all of that, to move and actually think it would make a difference in the quality of plowing our street will receive.

I run upstairs to tell my roommate Kellyn my Monday morning saga, and she offers to drive me to Stop and Shop and leave my car there. Lovely! We go outside, quickly shovel her car, and hop in. As she slides her window down to get the snow off of it, the glass separates from the rubber liner and is falling through the crack in the door. It is now her turn to offer some choice words.

We both get out of the car (again), and are standing by her car in our back parking lot with her door ajar. She is pushing the window button on the inside, while I push the slope of the window toward the edge, hoping to push it back into the rubber liner. We are successful in our attempt, until the force of the window fixing itself into place ensues a crack, straight down the middle of it. Kellyn, bless her soul, is just happy the window is shut and gets back in the car. She drives me down the street to my car, where I again get stuck. She again gets out of her car to push me as I attempt to accelerate. After thirty seconds or so of pushing, I finally break through, and Kellyn, who was pushing on my trunk, suddenly has nothing to lean on and falls face first into the snow.

Then we dropped my car off at Stop and Shop, and surprisingly enough nothing unfortunate happened here. We drove home, I passed out in my bed, and Kellyn got on the phone with AAA for a quote on her window. All because I decided to be the one idiot who drives to work in a snowstorm.

Don't you just love days like this? One bad thing just can't seem to happen on its own - there has to be a million other things that follow it (sometimes all before 11:00 in the morning). But the funny thing is, a friend of mine had a terrible day last week, so I looked up a verse I could text her that might encourage her. It's hard to remember these things for ourselves, isn't it?

So here I am, back on the same webpage I was on just a few days ago, this time to give myself some uplifting. And naturally, I come across a verse that was included in my devotionals two days ago:

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice."

- Philippians 4:4

Key word: always. I ironically always forget this part. This means praise God in good days and in bad. This means that as I'm looking back on my fun-filled morning spent crying at my desk and spinning in the snow, I should be finding little moments to be thankful for. And when you focus on that, it's quite possible you'll find more things to be grateful about than bitter. I'm thankful that I didn't get into an accident. I'm thankful I didn't hit the dog, even if she stole my name. I'm thankful for gracious roommates who will help you move your car and take you home with a cracked window. I'm thankful I had a warm, cozy place to go when it was all over. The tricky part is to remember this kind of attitude in the moment, when you're punching your steering wheel and shouting profanities to yourself. It's a work in progress, and it's probably why this reminder keeps coming back to me (think God is telling me I need to practice?)

Some of you may be having a good day, others not so much. But I encourage all of you to find something, even if it's one little thing to give you hope and carry you through the rest of the day. Rejoice in that one little thing - it brings glory to our one big God.

So right now, I rejoice in the comfort of my bed, a "beach house" candle, a cup of raspberry pomegranate tea, and the song of the day on repeat.

Speaking of... here it is (I'm obsessed - not with the fact that it's off the Fifty Shades soundtrack, but come on, it's the beautiful Ellie Goulding and she kills it per usual). This song is nothing short of special - I was hooked from the first note.

"Love Me Like You Do" - Ellie Goulding