Chevy 4x4

Yesterday morning we woke up to fresh snow, just a couple of inches. It was continuing to "snow" but it was more like chuncks of water plopping from the sky by 7:30am. It was sloppy, sloshy and wet on the 15 minute commute to work. I took the truck for the second day in a row. I like taking the truck because it makes me feel like a country girl and because the van was on E and I didn't want to get up any earlier for gas before work.
 I looked out the window at work at 3:30 when a pt called and cancelled her appt for tomorrow. I knew that they were calling for bad weather, but it looked wet and foggy, not snowing or icy. The temperature wasn't freezing.
 About an hour and a half later, I looked out the window and saw lots of white. I finished up an hour later and headed home. Steve had texted me to warn me it was bad. An let's face it, he knows me!
 I didn't have the windshield scrapper, so I borrowed the the Nurse Practitioner's (ours was on the kitchen counter).
From the looks of the parking lot, I dropped the truck into 4 high and was on my way.

The usual commute home proved to be quite unusual. All that slush was now thick ice and the roads were now snow-packed. As I approached an incline on the drive home, I saw that the traffic was slowing down and lining up. Cars were stuck on the ice, wheels spinning and vehicles sliding. Once the traffic came to a stop, a lot of cars weren't able to get the traction to go again. The truck was having no such problem and was able to slowly pass them by. I looked out ahead of me and there were but 1 or 2 cars in front of me in the distance. I left bad that they were back there struggling. On the other hand, I was grateful for the truck.

On the drive home I was serious and thoughtful, no radio on,... and I began to think.
I feel like my posts are getting redundant as I am going on my 3rd year sharing my thought- but I was brought back to the idea of preparedness. Yes, I should know better. The Church teaches it, and common sense dictates to be prepared. How true is the scripture: "be prepared and ye shall not fear."

Not even a week ago the water header corroded and sprung a major leak. We were without water and am sad to say we didn't have a drop in the house that wasn't in the toilet or on the down stairs carpet. My laundry wasn't done, so it was a HUGE mess in the laundry room.  My van gets down to E more often that it should. I didn't have an ice scrapper in the winter in Utah. I don't have much food storage aside from ramen noodles and expired cream of chicken soup. I can't find a working flash light in the house. At last check, my 72 hr kit had size 3T pants for Jenna who is now a size 7/8. We need tires and would have liked to help the landlord out with the water heater but our emergency fund ran out when we were job hunting! As of 10 pm last night we were out of milk and bread and down to a mere 1 or 2 diapers!

I have had that feeling that those people must have felt when they slid off the road..."well crap. I wasn't prepared for this! Where is my 4x4! and why didn't I wear a coat?" The feeling is helplessness, anger, fear and resentment of self.

So apparently the only thing we have right is that we have a Chevy 4x4.

I suppose with the new year preparedness may be the theme. Not because we fear a massive Earthquake tomorrow or a terrorist attack, but because it's important to be prepared for life! Life happens: jobs are lost, electric goes out, ice develops on windows, water heaters bust, and natural disasters do happen that are out of our control!..and let's be realistic, four-wheel-drive can't always save the day!