Snow, snow and more snow...

It was a snowy long weekend with the end of Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Well Black Friday is an annual event where you have stores opening up at 4am and discounts going on for almost everything from apparels, shoes, arty stuffs to electronics. Most people will wait till this event to get electronics like TV, laptops, etc. It was something that I was looking forward to but I ended up just rotting at home and did not shop for a single thing even online. One of the deterrent was the weather of course. In fact it was the main deterrent. Snow was expected and the winds were strong. Not very conducive to be driving around in such conditions and I definitely experienced it for myself today.

We had planned to head to town and have a nice dinner before Dearie goes away for 3 weeks. However, I noticed that the winds were strong and the sky was gray and decided against it. Dearie wanted to eat out so we decided to head to Smokey Mountain Pizzeria for dinner. Just when we were leaving, it started to snow but it wasn't that bad as the visibility was still good.

After dinner, I was passed the car keys and asked to try driving in the snow. In the midst of our dinner which was around 45 minutes tops, the snowfall got heavier and the tracks were completely covered with snow when we got out of the eatery. I started out fine but as I kicked in the accelerator, the car skidded and boy, was I panicking. It was my first time experiencing the car skidding and even though I had kicked in the accelerator, it was only at less than 30 miles per hour which is deemed slow. I could hardly see the lane markings and visibility was quite bad with the snow flying. It felt like I was traveling in a time machine. I was just mentioning to Dearie that I would definitely change a few things if I went back in time. However, one thing I won't change would be my marriage to him. I don't think there's a better man for me. Well, I was glad to have Dearie beside me as an extra pair of eyes and for guidance. I let out a sigh of relief when we arrived back home. It was definitely an experience driving through that snowfall.

Well my driveway and porch was covered with snow. Dearie & I had some fun playing and shoveling the snow. Snow can be such a pretty and yet dangerous thing. We had about 2+ inches of snow covered around our house. Think it is one of the rare times when there was this much snow in the area. This part of Idaho doesn't really snow much from what I hear from the locals. It must have snowed for us!

Anyway the fun ended when Dearie slipped and fell. I was so worried if he injured himself especially his knee but he was more worried if he tore his North Face jacket instead. Gosh! Almost gave me a heart attack there. Anyway, that's another dangerous thing when snow comes. Snow melts and as the temperature is still low, the melted snow turns to ice and ice is really slippery when walked or driven on. In fact Dearie mentioned that he had a few of his colleagues slipped and injured themselves. Hopefully Dearie will remain safe and throughout his stint in Arizona.

Start of Winter...

I guess Fall has ended with the start of snow on Saturday. I think out of the 4 seasons, I love the Fall slightly more than Winter because of all the beautiful colors from trees and plants. Although I would love to see more of Fall's colors in Aspen, Colorado or in other states, it was quite beautiful enough even in Boise and Mountain Home.

With more snow kicking in the next few days, I understand better why it's pretty dangerous to be traveling or driving. So far, the only experience I had with fog was driving in Perth. We had to pass by a number of lakes or rivers and it was so fogged up that it got me really worried. I have another experience with the fog today even though there aren't rivers or lakes nearby. And with more snow coming in from Canada and the high possibility of encountering black ice, I guess I'll be restricted to just staying in Mountain Home for the next few weeks. That's Winter for me I guess. Despite the lovely snow and the beautiful snowy landscapes, day is short with sun setting by 5.30pm and it's not so conducive to be driving to the city as often as during other seasons.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to experience a white Christmas but I'll definitely be experiencing a white Thanksgiving. This will also be the last week with Dearie before he travels to Arizona. I'll be home alone for 3 weeks. Here's to clearing the rubbish, shoveling the snow, being totally independent.

What IF...

I was watching the movie "Letters To Juliet" and there was this one scene that caught my heart.

It was the scene of Claire and Lorenzo's wedding after 50 years since they last met and Claire was reading out the reply letter answering to her own letter that was written 50 years ago. Sophie played by Amanda Seyfried wrote that reply and I felt it exceptionally close to my heart.

It read:

"What and If are two words as non-threatening as words can be. But put together, side by side, and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life.

What if? WHAT if? WHAT IF??

I don't know how your story ended, but if what you felt then was true love, then it's never too late. If it was true then, why wouldn't it be true now? You need only the courage to follow your heart.

I don't know what a love like Juliet's feels like, a love to leave loved ones for, a love to cross oceans for, but I'd like to believe, if I ever were to feel it, that I'd have the courage to seize it."

I'm someone who follows my heart when it comes to love. The "what ifs" will just be going through my head continuously. And yes it does takes a lot of courage. You need it when you're following your heart, you need it when you're getting on with your life.

This particular scene brought my memories back to a past relationship and it was these two words "What If" that led me to make the decision I had made. To me, it was my love at first sight, it was my true love, it was a dream come true. And although that relationship didn't last till now, I have to admit that I did not regret any part of that decision. Surely it was a painful experience but if time was turned back, I believe I would still have made that same decision. It was also because of this painful experience that molded me to be the very person I am right now.

I also believe in second chances at finding true love because if I didn't, I wouldn't have been married to a wonderful hubby now. I guess destiny just have a way of dealing with things at its own pace. Things may not be a bed of roses with Dearie but I've been blessed in so many ways. He's my pillar of comfort and support and my soul mate. We may not have much common grounds or the magnetic pull towards each other but somehow we complement each other. I'm just thankful that I didn't have to wait 50 years to find that out.