Fun in the Snow

I've often dreamt of having a convertible, however, the thought of having only canvas between me and the frigid temperatures and heavy snows that come with living and driving in the snow belt of North East Ohio make it a fairly unpalatable proposition so as a compromise I set my sights on getting a car with a moon-roof. And a few years back my husband surprised me with just such a car. But occasionally, I still pine for the experience of driving with the top down.

I am however totally in love with my car and in the spring, summer and fall, if the weather is nice, the first thing I do when I get in is hit the button that automatically removes the barrier between me and the sky.  During winter, however, the same said moon-roof remains closed.  That changed yesterday.

The past few days have been mildly snowy with the temperatures hovering right around freezing, sometimes a little above, sometimes a little below. All these temperature fluctuations have caused, as anybody who's lived in such a climate knows, a thin layer of ice to build up between the slowly accumulating snow and my car.

Yesterday, as is my habit, I turned the car on first and then began brushing it off, paying close attention to all the glass and much less to all the hard surfaces (hood, roof, trunk) leaving a little snow and all the ice still covering them.  Satisfied with my job, I climbed in and turned around to put my purse in the back seat and as I was turning back to get settled in my seat, I felt my elbow hit something.  All of a sudden there was a quiet, continuous whine that I was familiar with but hadn't heard for a while. I turned my gaze upwards to be met with the sight of, not the regular tan upholstery, but with white, a solid "roof" of white.

The ice-roof remained solid though my composure at this point was not.  I was not having a full on "freak-out" but I was not thinking all that clearly and instead of reaching for the button to immediately close the moon-roof my hands went up to grab the sliding apparatus. Not surprisingly my bumbling created enough disturbance that the entire crust of white collapsed into my lap and passenger seat.

At this point my daughter came out, ready for me to take her to practice. And that's when this whole fiasco became fun!  Her face, at first, contorted with confusion slowly developed a huge grin as she realized just how much of a "duh" her mother had just perpetrated. Her laughter ricocheted around the neighborhood as she started brushing snow and chunks of ice out of her seat. Her laughter has always been infections, and this time was no exception, my sour mood melted almost as fast as the snow in my lap and I too began to laugh. 

More so now than ever, I wouldn't exchange my moon-roof for any silly full blown convertible!