Preparation Equals Safety

Preparation equals safety, which means there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad preparation. Well, I forgot that important fact this morning.

When we departed the house, a nice, fluffy snow fell, the kind where you want to stick your tongue out to try and catch snowflakes. I did not think about my safety at all. In that type of snow, the danger comes from ice on the ground.

As we waited at the light at Washtenaw and Golfside, I said to Ms. H., “look at that dark and scary cloud.” On the horizon, over Ann Arbor, we saw a huge dark cloud that resembled a pre-tornado funnel cloud. “Wow,” Ms. H. said, “that is a dark and scary cloud.”

I thought nothing more about it. I waited for the bus at Arborland. Nothing spectacular happened on the ride down Washtenaw to South University, a distance of about five miles or so.

Then I got off the bus.

The wind whipped snow around like a screaming dervish. At the point my lack of preparation became apparent. I had left the deep hood of my parka at home. In the closet. Without that hood, the snow blew into my coat collar and onto my neck, behind my glasses and into my eyes. Without that hood, the blowing snow compromised my safety. Even bent over at the waist I still felt snow everywhere on my face. I had to close my eyes a few times. Drivers could not see that. And drivers in the midwest tend to try to hurry in inclement weather.

Had I had my trusty hood on, though, no problem. I needed this reminder that all things in life, but especially the weather, change. Sometimes quickly. I have a responsibility for my own safety. Preparation equals safety.