There are many things that I love about living in Michigan. The beautiful lakes, amazing summer and fall weather, and being close to my family and friends are at the top of my list. However, Michigan weather is incredibly unpredictable and one thing I do not enjoy is winter.

Winter in Michigan can be just downright miserable at times. Take today for example. The temperature outside is -9 degrees Fahrenheit before wind chill. That doesn’t sound terrible until you add in the buckets of snow, so much so that I got stuck in my own driveway after my husband had snow blowed it. And on top of that it’s windy so the actual temperature outside is closer to -40 degrees Fahrenheit. WHAT?!

The government for my city is closed down because of the temperature. The mail isn’t being delivered and the trash isn’t being picked up. The news warns us not to drive unless it’s completely unavoidable and to not be outside for more then 8 minutes at a time because of frostbite. It’s like a snowpocalypse.

I work in finance so if the stock market is open we are open for business. But the company I work for is all about work-life balance. Our President sent out an e-mail Tuesday afternoon urging us to work from home Wednesday due to the frigid temperature and terrible driving conditions. He sent another e-mail this afternoon with the same message. Reason number 1,000,001 why I love this company is because they value us as individuals and give us the opportunity to work from home instead of slip sliding our cars into work.

So, it looks like I’m going to be snowed in for another day. Working from home isn’t super easy because I’m down to just my laptop screen instead of my two screen setup at my work desk. But that’s okay! I’m home safe and sound with water running so our pipes don’t freeze!

Also, shoutout to the amazing people like Brett who work outdoor jobs. Today I bundled him up in a million layers so that he could go work his job at the airport in order to make sure that people can get to their destinations on time. They have been working in shifts so no one has to be outside too long.

Michigan, I love you but please give us a break from these unreasonably low temperatures!

Is anyone else out there freezing right now?

Photo by Ali Inay on Unsplash