start in low gear

Over the holidays, I drove up to Pittsburgh from my folks' place in Virginia to hang out with my friend Curt for New Years. It snowed. A lot. Luckily I was able to flex my plans enough that I drove up earlier than originally planned and got to town just as the snow was starting. The next morning, it was piled pretty high and just kept coming. Curt lives at the top of a hill overlooking the river with a driveway I wouldn't dare in those conditions, but for him it was no big deal. The morning of New Years Eve, he woke up with a flu or something, so we ended up camping out with a bunch of movies instead of going out and about. I was a little bummed about missing the fireworks at Midnight, especially since it was snowing again and it seemed like that would be pretty cool. He felt really bad about it, but I didn't blame him one bit (its not like he chose to get sick. Besides, he's the one who had to deal with being sick!) A friend of his even offered to come get me and take me out with them, which was really nice, but by then I was enjoying the low key day on the couch. We still got to see a few small fireworks that neighbors launched at Midnight. Luckily, I didn't catch whatever he had, since I had to drive back to Virginia the next day and fly back to California the day after. And he was well enough for us to go out for some pierogies (a key goal of the trip!) before I left. It seems that nice, low key beginning has set the pace for the year so far. Works for me.