24:31 -- Waiting...

We sat today waiting.  Waiting just like we were at a concert, in the upper section, with free tickets that were passed along by a boss or well-meaning friend.  It's not really what we want to see...but yet we find ourselves here...waiting.  So, we pass the time by scrolling through our news feed, watching people, surfing the internet, and talking with friends.  We vacillate between fits of impatience and providential patience, but both are tempered by disbelief.  Disbelief that anything worthwhile will really come out of this experience.

For days now, there have been murmurs.  The murmurs turned to conversations.  The conversations turned to watches.  The watches turned to warnings.  And the warnings turned to red stripes scrolling on the bottom of TV screens and red flags on my weather apps and big, bold letters wherever the red showed up.

It's coming!!!  Pay attention!!!  WINTER STORM WARNING...

But the thing is, we didn't want to.  It's the end of March.  It's spring break.  It's that time of year when the flip flops weasel out of the closet on not-warm-enough days...just because it's nearly warm enough.  We're tired of this show, Winter, and we're ready for a new one.  This one's O-V-E-R.  Besides, we've really had our fair share of snowstorms this season.  One more is simply too much.

So, there was church, and a fantastic family feast at Grandma and Grandpa's, and an Easter egg hunt in the basement with cousins, and a few rounds of sugary snacks. But, still, nothing for our angst.  Just an unsettled, non-committal wait with periodic glances at the blue-grey sky and snowflake teases from time to time.  Nothing that amounts to anything...but a threat...and a good deal of Facebook attention.

8-10+ inches.  Really?

So, after waiting, and hedging our bets, and checking the radar, we started on the two-hour trek home.  Still no snow.  No blustery wind.  No dark, heavy clouds.  Within the first five minutes, the back seat grew quiet -- on both sides.Within the first thirty minutes, the front passenger seat grew quiet.  My husband drove.  He watched the sky.

Nothing.

An hour later my eyelids fluttered, surrounded by unnatural early evening lightness. The tires grabbed the road.  The front and rear windshield wipers swish, swish, swished in stereo.  The roads were white with black pinstripes.  The sky before us, a giant snow globe...freshly shaken.

It came.

Even though we weren't that interested.
Even though it isn't what we really wanted.

But, I guess it's something to do.

Write on,
b