While now eighteen and driving on his own for at least 3 years, I still refused to let Alex or Alexi to drive back to the University without me when the weather acted up. It’s not that I didn’t trust my kids… I just didn’t trust all those other crappy drivers.
Because of the weather reports, I really tried to get them to just stay an extra day until this storm could blow over and the highway department could plow the roads. But Alex would hear nothing of it. Alex did nothing in half measures and He was committed to his team. He wanted nothing more than to wrestle against Nebraska state university this week.
Any other University in the country would have already closed down shop, but up here in the “Great White North”, school closure was seen as a weakness against moral fiber or something. Years could go by before a school would shut down its doors because of weather. This meant that the wrestling match was going to happen with or without some of the students showing up. So when the weather made an extracurricular event dicey, I would usually drive my kids back and forth in my Jeep Grand Wagoneer. With its 4 wheel drive, it was normally more reliable on our icy winter roads than a normal car would be.
We had left early in order to beat the storm, but we were only halfway to the University when the snow began to really fall heavily. The weathermen obviously got the storms timing wrong. Wind and snow is nothing new to us. In fact to most Dakotan’s wind and snow is so common, it is no longer talked about. But this time we were not experiencing the familiar wispy snow flurries, falling like powdered mash potatoes flakes. This time the snow was falling down in a thick solid sheet of ice and snow.
I swear to God, some of the snowflakes were as big as your hand. Like some first grader had cut out giant size snowflakes in school and hung them on a string. Except these huge icy conglomerations were not art but real trouble. It wasn’t long before the snow and ice became so clumped up on the glass of my windshield that I had to pull over several times, just to bounce the ice off the wiper blade. We were in trouble because it was obvious that my wiper blades could no longer keep up with this winter storm.
“Alex, I think we need to stop and turn around and go back home. I think this storm is going to be as bad as the weather men predicted.”
“Mom! You know that I have been working on making weight for this match all week. If I don’t make the match, my team will have to forfeit my weight class. You know I can’t let my team down.”
This was so Alex. He wouldn’t had fussed if the issue was only about him, but he would be stubborn if it affected other people. I usually loved this personality trait in him. Today however, it was going to be a total pain in my ass.
“I know Alex, but it won’t do anyone any good if we all get stranded or worse… killed in this weather. Besides if we can’t make it in the Jeep, neither will your competitive wrestling team make it to the University by bus.”