I have to say that while I have lived here in the Greater Washington DC area for just about 13 years, I am still AMAZED at the reaction this region has to snow.  Having grown up in Michigan, I can remember growing up praying that school MIGHT be cancelled due to snow…key word there, might.  It took nearly a blizzard to have school cancelled (and if I had grown up in the upper peninsula even that wouldn’t have cancelled school).

Yet here, in the DC area…the sheer threat of snow sends parents and government decision makers into a frenzy of cancellations.  But that’s not all that happens, the threat of snow also sends the mobs into the grocery stores to stock up on three items…milk, eggs, and bread.  We used to joke that Marylanders just loved their French Toast.  I could understand bottled water, toilet paper, and canned food…right?  Yet that is not the case here.  I used to joke with my coworkers that it was a myth, until my first winter and the threat of snow was imminent.  It took one trip to the local grocery store to see that the supply of milk, eggs, and bread was depleted.  The myth was true.  I was mystified.

Now for those of you who don’t live in this area, it may seem like I’m making fun…and I am, yet the truth is the locals all know it’s funny too.  One year there was a scratch off lotto ticket called the complete shopping list, or Maryland shoppers list or something like that.  Everyone here had a good laugh, and then the first snow rushed out to get their French Toast supplies.

The title of this article is a joke that K and I have based on a Family Guy episode I think, it’s been quite a while.  With the imminent threat of snow, the local News channels were filled with “March Roars in Like a Lion!” and “White Death 2009!”…ok not really but they clearly had nothing else to report on since within a 30 minute news show, they covered weather for 28 minutes.  I mean they even had commentary from the Governor of Maryland about the weather and what he was going to do about it!  I can’t make this up…

Last night we got nearly a foot of snow.  Every school in the region was closed, the government was probably closed,  and most businesses were empty…along with all the French Toast supplies!  Ask me how I know.  Like I said, I have lived here for almost 13 years now…and I like my French Toast too!

To all my Maryland/DC/Virginia readers, be safe and enjoy the snow!  In two days it’s gonna be 40 degrees again.