OPINION
Saturday morning, my husband and I woke up to a knock on our bedroom door.
'Look outside,' our 12-year-old said.
The world turned white overnight, just as projected by the National Weather Service.
That kicked off four and a half days of us getting to enjoy the winter wonderland together before their dad made the trek to come pick them up Wednesday.
This experience was much smoother than in 2021, when ice, snow and tundra-like temperatures caused massive issues with the electrical grid for our state.
This time, we didn't lose power at all, our home stayed toasty and it felt safer to venture out because of that.
I'm grateful to the Public Works staff of not only our town but all of the towns in our coverage area working to keep everything going while we could be home safe.
I'm grateful, too, for the crews from utilities like Texas New Mexico Power and Co-Serv for keeping the power flowing.
The people who care for our power, water and streets don't have the luxury of working from home when the world goes white.
I'm grateful for their typically unappreciated work that keeps us safe.
I'm grateful, too, for the quick communication by all of our local school districts about their decisions regarding closures for Monday through Thursday.
(I cut it off there because we send the paper to the printer on Wednesday, and as of press time, I didn't know what Thursday's decision for Friday would be.)
Having a chance to be home with my three favorite people and still being able to get the paper produced for the week was a special experience.
As the snow melts, life will return to normal for the Ranch Cities area.
Kids and their teachers will go back to school.
Running out to the store won't require shoveling the driveway.
Parents will go back to their regularly scheduled work week.
For me, though, the memories of watching my girls sled down the detention area slopes and enjoying each other's company for days on end will stay with me.
After all, it's not every Wednesday that I can kick off my workday with four rounds of Mario Kart on the N64.
Abigail Bardwell is the Editor & Publisher of the Post-Signal. She can be reached at [email protected].
