An early winter evening, when Chloe was a little girl, maybe 2, maybe 3 years old, we looked out and saw a few snow flurries in the air. Her excitement was contagious so together, Melinda, Chloe and I sat and watched the snowflakes flutter through the night sky. A few managed to make it all the way to the ground and lasted there for a second or two before disappearing, much to our disappointment. As the evening progressed, the snowflakes grew in number and some got bolder, lasting on the ground. This lead Chloe to exclaim, “It’s piling up! It’s piling up!” It was so cute, especially since there really wasn’t any snow on the ground. Since then, whenever we see a light flurry and the hint of a snowflake sticking to the ground once of us will say, “It’s piling up!”

I was reminded of this on Wednesday when I received an email from Chloe up at Quest University. Her subject line, all caps, was, “SNOWWWWWWWW.” She included a couple of photos, including this one, and said they had about 6 inches on the ground with 15 due by Sunday. When I replied with concern for her getting home next week for Thanksgiving she said that it’s all supposed to turn to rain by early next week.

Meanwhile, here in Seattle tonight while I was taking Ella to dance class, we caught a glimpse of some “heavy” looking rain in the headlights. Once again the phrase entered my head, “It’s piling up!” Alas, at this point in the evening, a few hours later, it’s nothing but rain, no piles in sight.