christine gacharna | B L o G » a Northern Virginia photographer specializing in black and white images

Our long weekend is getting L O N G E R …

It started early Friday morning with the wildly exciting news that school is canceled! We slept late and then just before the flakes started to fall, ventured out for last-minute stops at all the essentials for such a weekend: Gamestop, the library and Starbucks.

Late afternoon found us all sitting in the kitchen, Lexi working on homework, Jonathan on his PSP and me texting Carlos (away this last week on a trip) to let him know that yes, we are fine and have everything we need. WHOOSH quick as a flash, my little sunshine was outside on the patio, barefoot, gleeful to run and play, leap for sheer winter joy in the snow. And then she slipped, fell, stood, and saw the blood everywhere, gushing from her shin. She screamed, “Mommy, my kidney just fell out!” (In hindsight, I’m guessing that was a chunk of tissue?)

Mommy switched into crisis mode, adrenaline taking over, sent off the text mid-letter and followed up with another: “destination: ER. call me.”

Once there, my kids started to argue over who has the most ER visits under his/her belt. :sigh: I know the correct answer: I am considerably more likely to be in the ER with either one kid or the other when Carlos is on a trip. The ER Doc, as fun and wonderful as he was, showed the kids how to suture a wound and assured Lexi that although this was his first attempt ever, it looked as if it was actually going quite well.

Then all joking aside, he said no getting wet — no sledding — for 48 hours.

So we sat indoors all day Saturday, sat and looked out the window as inches, and more inches, and then a foot and another of snow continued to fall. The kids played the Wii, DS, PSP — I began to fear that we might lose power and what then of our indoor alphabet world?

This morning, I mustered my nerve and headed outside to dig out our cars — and my wonderful neighbors were already hard at work! We worked long into afternoon getting everybody properly uncovered and recovered from this unusually epic storm that slammed the mid-Atlantic. As we worked, we all got the text that school is canceled Monday, and then more news to expect 6 more inches Tuesday.

So on that happy note: we went SLEDDING!!! (only a few hours shy of 48, Doc.)

[Canon G11, +2 ev]