Thanks to an incoming winter storm, I'm off to DLTI a day early.

Mike Landin's regional weather forecast predicts a potential snow accumulation tonight and tomorrow of 2-3 feet, maybe more. And for once, the storm isn't blowing in from the north; it sounds like it's coming from the south and east, which means that as I drive toward Elat Chayyim, I'll be heading right into it.

I have good snow tires and a car I trust in inclement weather, but if we really get feet of snow -- well, I wouldn't relish being on the road tomorrow. (If I could even get to the road; our driveway is long and steep, and that sounds like the kind of snow that would keep me here until our plow guy shows up with his backhoe.) So I'm leaving tonight.

Mostly this means today has felt scrunched, as the workweek collapsed into a very small space. I think I'm packed: my usual winter clothes, a velvet dress for Shabbat, snowpants (to go with the snowshoes I've tossed in the back of my car), BP monitor and meds, tallit and tefillin and a bag full of books and siddurim...

I've been rereading my journal from week 1 of DLTI, and it feels like something that happened to someone else. I was so excited and energized and full of insights and teachings. We wrote b'samim notes, to help us preserve the sweetness of being there, and looking at mine now makes me laugh a little, ruefully, because it doesn't quite feel real.

I'm excited about going back, and a little bit nervous. As always I hope to be open to what is, instead of getting stuck in my expectations (both positive and negative) about what might be. One way or another, it might be nice to have some extra time to decompress before the adventure beguns. Maybe I'll work on poems in the morning, or go for a walk in the snow. Once I get there, I'll be free until 5pm tomorrow -- it's like a gift of an extra day.

Anyway, I'm about to be offline for several days. I'll be home late on Monday. Have a great week, everyone; see you on the flipside! And if you live in a place that's snowy, and you have to be out and about tomorrow, be careful...

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