The media is touting it as the biggest snow storm since the "blizzard" of 1980. That storm stranded many people inside the Scope arena that had gone to the circus, and the storm hit while they were inside. When the show was over, the roads were impassable, and most had to spend the night inside...
I was 10. And no, I wasn't inside.
I was at school when it hit. No big deal, right? Let me tell you what happened to me that year......
I guess forecasting wasn't what it was nowadays. They didn't close school for the impending storm.
Also, Norfolk was still practicing their "bussing" policy, where they were trying to integrate the schools better, so while I lived about a mile from an elementary school, I was "bussed" to a school in another part of town. Across the Elizabeth River actually, to South Norfolk.
And, let me add that my bus stop was more than two blocks away from my house. Long blocks.
So we went to school as normal in the morning. Then they decided that they needed to close schools early and get us home. That was about noon.
Most of the kids loaded onto their busses and went about their way. Two busses didn't make it. Mine was one of them.
So along with friends and others from our neighborhood, we waited and waited.
We called home. We begged parents to come get us. But they couldn't make it with the roads in the condition that they were.
We were given crackers.
We waited some more.
Finally about 7:30pm, we were told there was a bus available, but it was at the middle school a few blocks away. We all walked (even though we weren't dressed for snow), and got to the bus.
Do you remember the busses from the 70's and 80's? The didn't have heat......
At about 9:30pm, we were dropped off at our bus stop. Again, it was a couple of long blocks away.
I stopped about 4 houses from the bus stop, and knocked on the door of people I knew. I was exhausted, frozen and wet.
My bestest friend at the time, walked on toward her house.
The kind people in the house called my parents, and told them I was there. They wrapped me in blankets and set me in front of a fireplace. Now I just had to wait for my daddy to come get me.
While walking the block to come get me, he came across my friend who had collapsed in exhaustion on her way to her house. She was face down in the snow when my dad got to her. He didn't even know who it was, but quickly realized it, and scooped her up and ran her home.
Then he had to trek again to come get me.....
He got me home about 10:30 that night. I was hungry and exhausted. I remember eating spaghetti, and my mom has told me many times that I sat there and said that I didn't know if I was more hungry or tired....
I ended up getting real sick from being out in it too long... I had pneumonia and was out of school for a good bit.
You'd think after that fiasco that I'd really hate the snow. But I don't!! I love it! (It's the cold I don't like....).
I'll post about this year's blizzard when it's all done...........
AMW
3 comments:
What a sad little story.........It sounds like you were traumatized. I barely rememeber things from when I was 8. Well I did start a fire in the woods and it came up the hilll and almost burned down my dad's garage.
What a horrid experience for both you and your friend! You're a troop Ann - always have been and always will be!
Everytime it snows, I remember your dad carrying me home after I had fallen in the snow. I also remember us having the run of the school cause the teachers left. Mr. McCoy let us answer the phones because no one was there to answer them. I also remember standing at the door watching the buses roll away with these big snowflakes falling and thinking we were never gonna get home. Your dad was my hero!
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