Chicken Wings and Snow Squalls

Home is my absolute favorite place. I’m always happy to travel, to go to see friends and family and visit. But sometimes I just need home. The comfort and familiarity of it.

Heading back today towards home I rode into a storm. Winter storms here kick up quickly, they can be unforgiving. The bridge had a traffic back up for an hour due to high winds. There were whiteouts on the thruway that held up traffic for another hour.

I was rerouted several times only to end up on roads that were closed or unplowed. At one point the wind kicked up and a snow squall circled in front of my car.

From the sky, an eagle appeared in front of my windshield. Twisting, turning, talons outstretched as if he would land on my hood.

Eagle, Eagle, Eagle, I screamed. What an incredible blessing to see him. His wings outstretched, he turned, he lifted. His white tail feathers in sight, and he went up, higher, up and out. I quickly said a prayer of thanks. In the midst of a storm!

I stopped at the only visibly plowed lot after 7 hours on the road, Walmart. Strangely, in the midst of this winter storm, Walmart was open and the lot fairly full. I was hungry.

My dog was with me and I had his food but did not pack anything for myself. I entered the grocery area and there was a food counter. The only thing that was hot and prepared were chicken wings. Hi, I said to the clerk. Hi, she said. Is this all you got, I asked, pointing at the wings. That’s it, she said, everything else takes too long to cook.

Oh, ok, I said, shrugging my shoulders, I’ll take an order. She picked the wings up and put them in a small bucket. I grabbed some muffins and a loaf of rye bread for the house and left.

The wings were deep fried and crunchy. I washed them down with a diet Pepsi in my car. The dog crunched on his food. I headed towards the road home and it was closed, another detour. State Police blocked the road due to squalls and ice. Uggh, I thought, the mountain road is worse. That’s the only other road home.

I started towards the mountain road and put my hazards on. In a bad storm people won’t see your lights but they will see the red blinking hazards. The mountain road started out sanded but quickly turned to snow. Up, up, up, up the incline I went. Thank you Chevy, I said. I made it to the main route.

After a long, long day, I was home. A nine hour drive. I got out of the car with my dog and looked up at the dark sky. The North Star is there. I am home.