A few days ago, we were congratulating ourselves on the good weather expected for Maria’s drive to Boston Sunday, where she will leave for the first leg on her flight to India – Boston to Dubai, then Dubai to Kolkata. This morning, we woke up to winter storm warnings, a big snowstorm dropping as much as 16 inches on us from Sunday to Monday throughout New England, just when she will be heading to Boston.

So, some scrambling here, the storm will be worse here than in Boston, so she is going to try to get ahead of it. Her flights leaves Sunday night.

I confess I have no anxieties about her traveling to India  – she is a big girl and can take care of herself – but the idea of her driving off in a big snowstorm driving for hours in her little Prius gets to me. Something about vulnerability, more to do with me than her, she isn’t worried about it.

I checked myself, I was checking the forecast every five minutes, and that’s not good. Besides, it just gets worse. I feel like my grandmother Snowstorms terrified her and I had to call her every half hour to tell her I was all right.

The new plan – hers –  is for her to leave early Sunday morning before the storm gets too bad and check into a motel near the airport. Then she’ll drive to lot where she can park her car and will be driven to the airport. The storm is not expected to hit Boston directly.

I wondered if she ought to go tonight, and get way ahead of all of it, but that didn’t fly.

So an exciting kick-off to the trip, which hasn’t even begun. We went to the Round House cafe for brunch and Scott and Lisa gave her a nice send off. People in the town are excited about the trip, she’s been asked to speak about it when she gets home.First, we’ll get there. A million things to do today – get to the bank, sort out financial stuff, to to the dump clear out the wood stoves, finish packing.

It will be like old times, being alone on the farm with another big snow dump, we got seven or so the other day. On Monday, Cassandra arrives to help out. Sunday I’m on my own. Nobody with two border collies is on their own.

Trips to India are not simple, I see. More later