Now that the sun is out here in Washington and my neighbors are beginning to poke their heads out of their caves like prairie dogs after a nuclear holocaust, it seems that maybe, just maybe, life will go on. Businesses will open, streets will be passable (someday), the stores will be fully stocked with bread, milk and toilet paper once again and all the birds will sing. Personally, I've enjoyed the weather, but that's probably only because I've had the last five days off, the girls have enjoyed alternately playing in the snow and watching movies and I'm reminded that this is just an event. Some people live through months of snow like this and they just go on with their lives, barely noticing, let alone doing the amount of complaining we collective Washingtonians have done over the past six days.

The snow is over. Our roof hasn't caved in... yet. Our street still hasn't seen a snowplow and I haven't seen The KoH in forty-eight hours. He left for work yesteray and then decided it best to stay overnight where he was after the governor declared a state of emergency, pulled all snow removal and emergency staff off the roads and warned that if anyone was caught driving on the roads during blizzard conditions, they would be cited (although since there would be no police, I'm not sure how that would be accomplished). But like Ada in Cold Mountain (or so I imagine; I haven't seen the movie - should have rented that to watch before the snow), I have faith that he will one day make it back to us again before the girls are in college and we'll all be reunited in the spirit of love and harmony. I am also reminded of my extreme gratitude for a home, electricity, gas, warm blankets and am pointedly aware that many don't enjoy such things on a regular basis and not just for a handful of nightmare-like hours.

By far the best thing about last week's snowstorms is the sheer entertainment value that the news media, twitter, facebook and all my other websites provided throughout. Let's take a moment, shall we, to remember with fondness all the hashtags that we would not have enjoyed had The Snow Nightmare of 2010: Snow Fast, Snow Hard never come about. You can always count on Washingtonians to both overreact and make fun of themselves at the exact same time.

Ah, how I love it here.

#snopocolypse
#snomageddon
#snoverkill
#snotorius
#snotorius B.I.G.
#snotorius D.I.G.
#snotorius N.Y.C.
#snotorius W.D.C.
#snOMG
#snotable
#snomore
#snominatrix
#SnOverThis
#snogladImnotthere
#snogladitsnothere
#snodiculous
#snocaine
#snobigdeal
#snowno
#snomás
#snoverwhelming
#snosferatu
#snonami
#snowmanteaux
#snopacshakur
#clusterflake
#TheBigFreezy
#snoverdose
#snOMGeddocalypse


How ever did we survive the Blizzard of '96 without hashtags?