weather or not

living in the south makes minor weather occurrences seem like major events.  even the mention of snow can cause many to experience small panic attacks and massive pilgrimages to the grocery store.  today's big snow was no exception.  we have had a lot of rain in the last 36 hours; rain accompanied by low temperatures.  the threat of ice has been hanging over our heads as we watched cities to the north of us glaze over.  today, the day started with more rain and the additional advisory of impending doom, the dreaded wintry mix.  that noise was the collective gasp of a cities inhabitants bracing for the big one; preparing themselves for the paralysis that was to take hold any moment.  after all, schools called out earlier and the weather radar maps were purple...then, like so many meteorologists predicted with certainty, the rain began to freeze and snow began to fall.  and fall it did, fast and furious and suddenly the ground was almost white.  but this is nashville and an hour later, the snow stopped falling and the purple band that had become white had moved on and we were left to watch the snow melt-quickly.  maybe next time we will get to drag out the sleds, not this time though.