Driving To Cadiz In a Winter Storm
It was close to Christmas time and late afternoon when our plane arrived in Nashville. My father-in-law, who had been waiting, greeted us with hugs, then shepherded us all out to his van. Usually we’d make it to their place in Cadiz within 2 hours. But on our way there, we noticed cars had slowed.
Little did we know, ahead of us the weather had grown quite foul. Coming up on Clarksville, Dad turned on the wipers, for flecks of falling snow had turned to sleet.
Brooding now, we focused nervously on each detail of the trip; on every sliding motion that was made, on every bump and every straggler we saw that had slid off the road. Meanwhile, ever conscious of the time, I was calculating how much longer it would take to reach our destination as we crawled along at 25 mph!
We made a restroom stop at a McDonald’s. It happened to be closing quite early at that exact moment we pulled in (violent snow storms were rare in Kentucky, and only fools would venture out this night to get a burger!) Against raw wind, eager to escape its nip, we carefully but quickly trod on ice after our stop, returning to the comfort of the van.
Finally we approached our final turnoff, and I noted how those last few miles still would take a half hour more to drive. Late that night, we pulled into the drive-way of my in-laws’ welcoming house lit brightly for Christmas. Feeling the biting cold as we piled out of the van and seeing nothing but the stark white of snow against the dark, I breathed a sigh of relief to have safely arrived!
morning’s light. . . .
the dazzle of trees’ branches
encased in ice
For Debbie Guzzi's Mix It Up Poetry Contest
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