It's All Good

Every thirty years or so, Utah experiences freezing rain, where everything is covered in a thick layer of pure, treacherous ice.

Every, oh, NEVER or so, Scott and I plan a surprise trip to Miami for Ruby's birthday.

Today, those two rare events converged.  Little did I know when I was making final, secretive preparations yesterday, that our plans would be wildly altered in just a few short hours. I had clandestinely taught Ruby's violin lessons, arranged rides and babysitting, gotten a ballet sub, told Ruby lies and packed without anyone noticing.  We managed to keep it a secret right up to the last minute!  Everything was falling into place!  Except that our windshield was covered in a sheet of ice as we drove to the junior high to pick up Ruby.  But whatever.  It's Utah.

Letting Ruby in on our fabulous secret was worth all the waiting and secret-keeping.  Scott and I were dying to break the news and see her reaction.  She was in shock!

We gave her ten minutes to grab anything I hadn't thought to pack, and we pulled out of our driveway.  We were on our way to the airport, to Miami, and out of this icy winter!  Our exhilaration lasted approximately until we got to the mailbox.  So ten feet.  That's when the car wouldn't go any further on the ice sheet of a road.  Scott tried...and tried.  Apparently, his car does not come with the optional ice skate feature it would have required to get out of our cul-de-sac.  So, it's 80 degrees in Miami and we can't get out of our driveway.

Coco to the rescue.  My mom hates to drive in bad weather, but Josh got her Jeep to the top of her driveway and she inched her way to our street to rescue us.  She gave us her Jeep, but it was so icy that she had to literally crawl home.  We couldn't drive her for fear the car would slide into a snowbank.  We were already on a salted road, so we took off, leaving Coco on her hands and knees, covering ground an inch at a time.  She saw one of her cats slide all the way down her driveway on its belly, legs splayed out in surprise. 

We were ALL surprised.  We don't have ice storms in Utah!  Except when we do.

After a slow, slippery drive, Scott dropped us off at the airport;  Ruby, Tziporah and me.  He drove away.  We found out our flight was cancelled and the airport was closed.  Angels must have been ice skating alongside us, because we got a nice, smart, competent, wonderful ticket agent who found us seats on a flight out tomorrow morning and was even able to push back our return date by a day for us.  She was so good at her job that she even printed us some bogus boarding passes so we could go through security and get a treat while we waited for Scott.  Can you believe we dragged a baby and all her gear through security just so we could get a cashew cluster at Rocky Mountain Chocolate?  You know it!

It was surreal for Ruby to have been pulled out of school at 9:30 am for "lunch with her dad," then be told she was going to Florida, then spend two hours driving to the airport and back home.  Happy birthday!  Surprise!!

We just had one more leg of our journey.  Scott came back to get us and dropped us off at his office so my dad could take us home while he tried to make court in time.  Dad not only got us home safely, he walked (slid on two feet) to Arctic Circle to get us some lunch.  Safely home, we suddenly had a whole day free and clear, all obligations obliterated.  Golda was home not feeling well, so we caught up on American Idol from inside of our own frozen pond until the little kids slid home from school.

It was such a unique, crazy day, the kind that comes along about as often as freezing rain.  Although momentarily disappointed, we were safe.  No white knuckles, no long hours stuck at the airport, no time spent sitting on icy runways with feelings of dread and a restless baby.  I mean, how much better could it have turned out?  We had a wonderful day.

And, barring a plague of locusts, we're going to Miami tomorrow!