You Just Never Know 1/14/2024

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

It has been one of those weeks.  And I do realize how vague that statement is but with the vast spectrum of out of the ordinary that has gone on this week, it will be somewhat difficult to nail down anything more specific than that.  I will say this, the goings on have all had a very specific feel to them. I am not sure that if I lived anywhere else that I would come upon such things. These situations all feel very specifically southern in their broadest sense and specific to my home state of Alabama in their narrower associations.  I will share with you the adventures of my life here as of late. Hang on to your proverbial hats.

It started early in the week with bad weather. We are well accustomed to bad weather in these parts. Tornados are not limited to the typical springtime that they might have in some places. Obviously, since this is January, we could have one at any old time. However, I will say that it seems to me that the out of season storms are more fickle. And that is saying something since that is the nature of tornadoes anyway. You can have a neighborhood with one house being a pile of rubble upon a foundation and the next, mere feet away, has not a flower petal out of place. But at this time of year when in non-southern places you have cold winter weather, we have a more unpredictable breed of storm. Since our weather doesn’t always participate in traditional winter, as a matter of fact, it very frequently participates in all the seasons’ weather, the meeting of unnecessarily warm air with seasonably cool air lends to all sorts of climate shenanigans.  We do have tornados we are warned about, but we are just as likely to have nothing more than a cloudy day after all these warnings. It has wreaked all sorts of havoc on our school systems this week too.

There was supposed to be foul weather Tuesday morning and to protect the children they delayed the start of school by two hours. We had been warned about all the ensuing drama for which we should be prepared.  I made special arrangements since I had to carry on to work for my daughter to get to school later. And what happened with all these dreaded storms?  It rained. It thundered perhaps three times and all of that was before my daughter had even woken up.  And that is the full extent of all that happened, at least in our area. There were severe storms including tornadoes in other parts of the South but as for us and all our preparation, we had rain, and our biggest concern was getting wet.  And as I am typing this, my daughter is at home on the last day of the school week doing virtual learning because this day yet again was predicted to be terrible.  But of course, once the school made the decision to not have students come in, the forecast changed, the threat level decreased and now we’re sitting at home (I took off work) watching a day that thus far has had a few rain showers.  It seems to be a case of déjà vu all over again. I appreciate the school systems erring on the side of caution, however. Bless them, they’re going to have to do it again early next week as possible winter weather is predicted. Yes, we’re done with storms for a while and are getting an arctic blast now. Because of good ole Southern weather, they can’t win for losing.

Storms and cold aren’t the only drama unfolding in these parts as of late, but this next bit will be terribly specific to my area.  I have written before about the seriousness of college football around here. Well, just this week, the coach of one of the major football teams in my state retired.  This is a huge deal because this guy had been coaching for a long time and he was one of the greatest coaches to ever coach the game. He had more championships that you could shake a stick at.  Of course, due to his retirement the fan base for his school is in shock and mourning at the end of his era at the helm.  I, however, happen to be a fan of the archrival of this team. I was thrilled to see the man go.  Then several associate coaches of my team suddenly resign the next day and there is all manner of rumor about the reasons as to why. So, my joy was very short lived. Such is the nature of college football in these parts.  It’s probably all taken entirely too seriously but it has been this way for ages. I don’t see how it can possibly change now short of divine intervention.

Since I have begun writing this, my rival has hired a new coach.  Though time will tell, it is seemingly a very underwhelming hire. As you can probably imagine, I am not upset by this. Also, since I have begun writing this the storms that never materialized have just turned into juicy mud and the temperatures are beginning to plummet.  It will be below freezing before I get out of bed in the morning and get well below freezing before next week is out. It’s just around here being around here. It’s a great place to be, just expect the unexpected.