Travel and Weather Woes

After the unseasonably warm weather we enjoyed here in Minnesota last week (50 degrees in February was cause for major celebration!), I was lulled into a sense of complacency. What a fool I was to think that winter might be starting to wind down. You’d think after two years in Minnesota I’d know better. Sadly, Mother Nature decided to remind me why she and I aren’t friends. This reminder came in the form of a major winter storm that dumped another foot of snow on us. Luckily for me, I was able to experience the storm in two time zones! I flew home to Michigan this past weekend and promptly got stuck there when the storm caused my return flight Monday morning to be canceled. I’m a good traveler under normal circumstances, but I’ll cop to stressing somewhat easily. So when I arrived at the airport Tuesday morning for my rescheduled flight to discover a security-breach alarm going off and an unmoving security line, I’ll admit I hit the panic button a bit. (The series of panicked texts to my managing editor are proof of this.) Forty minutes — and zero people through security — later, I was in full-on stress mode. Thankfully, airline delays finally paid off for me, and my departure time was pushed back ten minutes. I managed to clear security with five minutes to spare. One epic sprint to my gate later, and I’d made it. I collapsed into the first empty seat on the plane and promptly breathed a sigh of relief.

Luckily I’m back now and into the end-of-season crunch. Here’s hoping the rest of you are enjoying warmer weather (and sending some our way)!