Prepared?

At 4:55 p.m. I posted this on my facebook wall:
"hey DB peeps...the sun is um shining and the sky looks pretty blue. Why are Mary and I the only ones still at the office?"

I was cavalier and a little bugged the world had stopped because "a blizzard was coming". It was supposed to be here at 3...then 4...then 5.

Everyone was talking about it.
Businesses and schools were shutting down.
People were leaving the office early.

By 4:30, however, it was sunny outside and blue skies. Really. It just didn't look at all like anything that approached a blizzard. And I thought it was just all a bunch of hype over nothing.

Twenty minutes later since everyone else was gone, I decided to give myself plenty of time to gas up my car and get groceries "before the storm hit". Downtown was empty and it seriously looked like the Apocalypse.

And then it hit.
Before I even got to the freeway, it hit.

It was like the sky caved in on downtown and the snow started to fall immediately. And the wind! The wind! It was so fast. And so cold. And so...blizzardy.

My gas light was on "E".
I knew there was no food in my fridge at home.
Heat source if the power goes out? I don't have one.

I couldn't help but feel woefully ill-prepared the whole drive home. The parable of the Ten Virgins came into my mind and I knew which side of the story I was standing on.

An unprepared virgin. Literally.
(sorry...couldn't resist.)

I had the time.
I had a warning.
But, I pushed it.

It's just a little blizzard.
I'll be okay.

But, what about the next thing?
Am I prepared?
Are you?