March 27, 2009 and a blizzard has blown into the plains of Kansas. Of course this would be at the same time we had to make a trip to Wichita KS. My beloved uncle Madison passed away Tuesday, March 24th. The family all made plans from near and far to converge on Wichita to pay our respects, tell some Madison stories and laugh. Then came the weather predictions with words like "blowing snow, white out conditions, ice, sleet, snow" and such. Many family members did the smart thing and canceled their travels. Tom and I left KC at 5:30 Friday night in light drizzle. Half way there it turned to sleet and freezing rain. We slowly made our way south, arriving safely at greatly reduced speed. The wind nearly blew us over as we unpacked the car at the hotel that night.
Saturday morning dawned cloudy and windy with snow still falling. We all pulled together to get transportation set up for everyone. Luckily, cousin Greg from France was able to fly in that morning after an unexpected layover in Houston due of course to the weather. My brother Nathan, Tom and I spent 45 mins de-icing 3 cars. The ice was up to 2" thick in places. Slowly we caravaned to the church. Much to my surprise given the weather, there were about 20-30 others that showed up to pay their respects. One church member told me it would have been full if it wasn't for the weather. By the time we left the church it was already starting to melt. The sun broke out around 6pm. We spent the remainder of the day catching up on each others lives, telling family stories and looking at old and current pictures.
By Sunday the roads were all clear with massive melting occurring and we were able to cruise home at normal speed. Without a cloud in the sky, the bright sunlight made all the ice covered trees glisten like diamonds against the snow covered fields. It was actually beautiful in a stark, Andrew Wythe sort of way.
I love you Uncle Madison. You will be missed.
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