She is Loved

The Governor of Wisconsin has declared a state of emergency due to the weather. That is how cold it is here right now. This morning, I woke up my teenage daughter to set her in motion to go to school, then I came downstairs to let the dogs out. This is my usual habit and certainly not out of the ordinary for me. What is out of the ordinary is what happened next -- I turned on the television to check the weather.

The rule of thumb in this area is that windchill of -30F (-34.44 C) will close the schools. This morning, when I turned on the television, the wind chill brought outside temperatures down to only -16F (-26.67 C). Schools would be open. Still, I was concerned for my daughter to walk 1/4 mile to her bus stop in this weather. I went upstairs to slip on my jeans, socks and shoes. I would drive her to the bus stop this morning. (Even if the inside of the car was not warm, at least there is no wind chill inside the car.)

"C'mon and get up," I knocked on my daughter's bedroom door as I started back down the stairs. "You have school today." A groan issued from under the pile of blankets on her bed. I did not mention that she was getting a ride to the bus stop because, if I did, she would stay in bed for longer. Downstairs, I waited for a few minutes until it was 5 minutes before time to leave for the bus. Then I went outside to start my car.

My car's windows were covered with ice. I started the engine to see the absolute temperature outside was 1F (-17.22 ), then I went inside to wait another couple of minutes. When I came outside again, the windows were still covered in ice. I scraped them clean enough to see clearly. As I headed back into the house, my daughter exited. I told her to get in the car. She was surprized and, I think, grateful. In the car, she actually said "Thank you" to me!

Sitting at the bus stop, laughing with my daughter that she used to think the freezing point of water was cold when we lived in the South, the car's heater finally started to blow lukewarm air. Sitting outside in a subfreezing car was not something I had to do this morning. It was definitely not comfortable for me to stand outside with skin freezing in the air's cold as I scraped off my car's windows. But my daughter was spared the discomfort of walking half a mile to her bus stop and standing outside in dangerous temperatures to await her ride to school. I guarantee she knew this morning that She is Loved.