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Be prepared
Let me start by apologizing to my beautiful, little sister (in-law). I secretly wondered why anyone needed to be so ready for everything. And then? Well, and then this past weekend happened. The woman is the essence of what a Girl Guide is—prepared. She has a crate in the back of her car that contains enough of those weather essentials to keep a person warm and dry or cool and dry in any natural disaster. If anyone could teach a lesson on being prepared, Baby Sister could do it. Today, as I handwrite this column (with a pen and in a notebook I had to purchase because I didn’t bring my computer with me and had to wade through snow and slush to a stationery store to buy them) I am creating a “coulda, shoulda, woulda” list. First of all, I coulda brought my computer. LOML and I are semi-stranded in a hotel room in downtown Kingston during the snow/slush/ice-maggedon of 2018. Our original weekend plan was to see Lion King Junior at the Baby Grand, starring our almost famous young friend, Alice. We were going to see the afternoon matinee and then enjoy a leisurely dinner and stayover. It was our springtime treat to us. Believe it or not, we did listen to the weather forecast and prudently left early on Saturday to avoid driving to Kingston in freezing rain. However, we “shoulda” believed the weather forecast and brought hip-waders, or waterproof boots, at the very least. We coulda brought warmer, water-resistant jackets and thicker scarves, but we didn’t. Beautiful sister-in-law usually has a complete change of weather/change of clothes in the back of her car and probably a snack or two, just in case. In the back of our car we have an umbrella that doesn’t really open right and three reusable shopping bags. You never know when you’ll need a broken umbrella and want to do some shopping.
Like I said, we had planned to stay- over until Sunday, but as the weather system re-upped on Sunday morning we decided to hunker down for another overnighter in the Big Slush, formerly known as Kingston. I woulda brought a deck of cards, a bottle of wine and an extra library book if I woulda known we were facing an ice storm of “the century-to-date”. Had we believed Tom Brown, my not-so-secret weatherman crush, we wouldn’t have found ourselves shopping for dry socks on Sunday morning in Kingston. Have you been to Kingston on a Sunday morning? Let’s just say, even in the real tourist season, Kingston is a bit of a wasteland on a Sunday morning. Dry socks were purchased at a kitschy boutique and now LOML and I are the proud owners of socks that were so expensive it woulda broke our hearts to wear them. Well, it woulda broke my heart. Coulda brought at least 10 pairs of socks. Shoulda done that. Speaking of clothing you can’t really see, coulda brought another pair of jeans if I’d remembered the wicking quality of denim. Heck, shoulda squeezed two extra pairs of jeans into the luggage, next to the extra undies I didn’t have but purchased as the snow and slush piled up around us. Thank goodness the hotel provided lots of fluffy, dry towels. We spent a lot of time—between treks to find food and drink—soaking our cold, wet feet and taking advantage of fluffy dry towels.
Yep, I think what happened this past weekend was LOML and I were so excited about travelling child-free, we stopped being overly prepared. We actually adopted the philosophy “if we forgot to bring it we could just buy new,” which works for most places—but not in Kingston during an ice storm. For the first time, post travelling with kids, we seriously considered buying warmer coats, more socks, more undies, another pair of shoes or boots and lots of sweaters. We made it home in one, soggy piece and now have a plan to get rid of the broken umbrella, leave the reusable shopping bags where they are and maybe invest in a crate to store our emergency provisions. You know, a crate for the potato chips, a couple of big chocolate bars, extra wine, a fuzzy blanket, warm socks and, most definitely, a deck of cards.
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