Snowmageddon 2014

The weather people had been forecasting for some snow for several days, but it was supposed to really only hit South of Atlanta. Then they said we would get a dusting on Tuesday.  I told Jennifer to make sure that she checked the website to see if school was cancelled before she drove to school that day, and she did.  They were still open, so off she went with no problems. She had to drive that day because she had rehearsal that evening. 

I had a hair appointment that I desperately needed at 11:45. It started flurrying right at 10:00 as they predicted.  The decision was made at some point to dismiss schools 2 hours early, so Jennifer texted me and said that they would be leaving at 1:30 and that she would drive carefully and be home by 2:30.  I told her to check her phone before she left as we might have her take the bus and leave her car rather than drive in the snow. She wasn't happy about leaving her car over there, and we weren't either. But, I really didn't want her driving that far in this weather.  It kept snowing and started snowing pretty hard.  I headed to my hair appointment in Woodstock in the snow, and wondered if I was making the right decision.  But, I REALLY needed her to work her magic on my hair.  So, off I headed and texted Jennifer and asked her if she could leave early as it was getting pretty bad out there. She told me that she couldn't just skip school. 

Things started getting crazy while I was getting my hair done.  And things went really bad fast!  Christine, my hair dresser was getting texts that no one could get into or out of the subdivision and Town Lake Pkwy was closed because someone had slid into a fire hydrant and water was spewing out and freezing.  That car eventually drowned in the water.

No one could even get to the schools, including the busses to get the kids home.  She ended up having to walk toward the school where her kids walked down to meet her and they walked home.  I tried to leave her neighborhood out a different direction and was unable to get out. There were 4 or 5 cars that couldn't make it up the hill, so they were sliding back down backwards.  I turned around and came back to her house.

In the meantime, we decided Jennifer should just leave her car and take the bus home.  She was supposed to leave at 1:30, but they just sat in the bus until 2:40 (not exactly sure why). Then finally the bus left and drove for about 5 minutes before the bus driver turned around and headed back to the school saying she wasn't going to do this.  It was too bad with the snow, ice, and traffic.  Then they sat there for a few minutes before they figured out another way to head home, and went that way. Unfortunately, they headed toward the East/West connector where a truck accident had happened.  They were stuck in traffic going NOWHERE for 7 1/2 hours.  Everyone's phone was dying and they were turning them off and on to conserve power.  Kids had to use the bathroom on the bus.  In the beginning, it was fun and games but by hour 3, they started realizing the gravity of the situation, and it was no longer funny.  Their motto was "What happened on the bus...stays on the bus". 

After waiting a while at Christine's house while she walked to get her kids, she called and said that since it had snowed some more, she had seen cars make the hill, so I tried it again.  Thankfully, I was able to make the hill and slipped and slid a little but just wanted to get home.  Dale had been the only one home during this time and our goal was to get everyone home.  Luckily, no one was headed my way on 575 so it was a fairly easy ride home considering the circumstances and listening to everyone else's stories from the day.  There is a hill before our subdivision that is always tricky, but thankfully I was able to get through that and was SO relieved to get home. This was my view of 575.

Justin's school had called and said that the busses were running late and asked for patience. They asked that IF parents could come and get them, they should. So, Dale left right before I got home to go get Justin.  It took him over an hour to get to his school where he picked him up and headed home. Traffic was horrendous everywhere and it took over an hour to get home but they made it safely.  Then we had 3 home!!

I was glued to FB trying to get updates on Jennifer's bus status and how we were going to get these kids home.  Jennifer wanted us to come get her, but we were lucky to get home and was hearing and seeing awful stories from people out in it.  Around 8:30 or so, Jennifer called and said they were taking them to a Waffle House and dropping them off and we had to come get them. I told her that was not acceptable. They couldn't just drop them off!!  Then she called and said they were taking them to South Cobb High School where they would wait for parents to pick them up there.  I was glad she was at least safe and had food and water and restrooms and a warm place.  There were about 30 kids dropped at the high school with the principal of that school which we heard wonderful things about.  Jennifer had her phone charger with her so she was able to charge her phone and we were able to text and call. One of her friend's mom was going to come get her daughter and said she would bring Jennifer and Alexis to downtown Kennesaw if we wanted to come get them there. We said that sounded good. But she couldn't get there.  The girls were sent to the food lab where they were able to fix eggs and biscuits and the principal sent a picture to Mr T who posted in on facebook. It made me very happy to see her smiling and eating!

 

 

Around 11 we told Jennifer that she wasn't to go with the friend's mom and she just needed to hunker down and sleep there. She wasn't happy about that, but understood.  The friend's mom finally made it to the school at 3 am and took about 3 kids with her. 

 

Temperatures weren't expected to get above freezing on Wed either so we weren't sure what we were going to do to get her home. People were crashing everywhere. People were sitting in traffic so long that they were running out of gas. People were abandoning their cars in droves and just walking somewhere.  Kids had to walk miles in the snow to get home.  People were walking many miles to get home or to somewhere they could get a warm spot. 

People all over the city were looking for a safe warm place. Many ended up in stranger's houses. Many ended up at Home Depots, Krogers, and gas stations. There were about 800 kids that ended up spending the night at schools because they couldn't get home. 

 

Neither Jennifer nor I slept good that night. She slept on the floor in the auditorium with a sheet.  She called at 7:30 sharp wanting to know when we were coming to get her.  There were STILL people stuck in traffic from the afternoon before.  It wasn't looking good. They were telling people to stay OFF the roads...it was a state of emergency....but we had to get our girl home. 

 

The family that we carpool with called and we discussed how we were going to get them. The other dad had left his office around noon yesterday and finally got home at 1 am (and that was pretty typical of all the stories coming from everywhere). He decided that he would try to get out of the subdivision and him and Dale could meet and get in our van and try to head that way. That way if they got stuck, one could push while the other drove.  It sounded like the best idea we could come up with. So, he headed out of the subdivision and while talking to Dale, he slid down a hill and bent his wheel. We found out later that he broke his driveshaft. I was packing up food and water and blankets and cat litter for their upcoming adventure when we got a call from Jennifer.  She said that the police officer that stayed with them (and stayed awake all night) was going to call an officer to come get the remaining kids and take them this way.  That sounded like a MUCH better idea to me!!  I really didn't want Dale or my car out in this mess if we didn't have to.  So, one officer picked them up and took the first kid home. Then he took them as far as he could before handing them over to a new officer to take them the rest of the way.  He brought her to the Waffle House near the house, so we packed up her boots and scarf and hat and got dressed ourselves and walked down to meet her. We got a call half way there that she was there and Dale took off running and walking.  I told him the officer would wait until we got there but he wanted to get there as fast as he could. I am so thankful that he didn't fall. I couldn't walk fast as I was afraid that I would fall again. I fell down the stairs 2 days before and was still really sore and bruised from that fall.  Justin held my hand when needed and we made it to meet her.  The officer left as soon as he saw that we were there.  After big hugs, we got Jennifer  dressed in her warm gear and headed home.  It was so good to see her home safe and warm!!! 

 

This was taken at Christine's house when I was stuck there.

 

 

 We got a little over 2 1/2 inches total snow at our house

Home Sweet home!!

 

As we got home, Jennifer clicked her boots together to get the snow off and said "There's no place like home...there's no place like home!"  And she is so right!!

 

She came in and ate some food, showered and went to bed.  She napped for most of the afternoon when I woke her up so that she would sleep that night. She had a good bowl of hot chili and just relaxed the rest of the day. She never went out in the snow again once she walked in the door. She had no interest in going out to play in it. We are so thankful for the people that took good care of her until she could get home to us. This was an adventure we will always remember!