Casualties of Snow

I am not new to snow - I snowboarded a lot in my 20s - but I am new to living in snow.  Playing in the snow is one thing and living in it, waking up to it, having to walk in non-snow boots in it, having to defrock your kids after they've played in it, having to retrieve groceries in it, etc., is another thing.  Luckily, we haven't seen a large downpour nor have we been incessantly snowed on.

Despite the light dusting we've received, snowplows come out and sprinkle the roads with sand and salt to clear the roads of snow so cars can more safely pass.  This doesn't sound ridiculous to me because I grew up in California.  Michael, however, mocks at how sensitive the locals here are to any inch bestowed upon them.  It's similar to the chaos L.A. goes through when it merely drizzles in Southern California.  

Michael has always been hyper-vigilant about washing our cars since we always live near the water.  I didn't question his aversion to the salty air because I occasionally saw cars with deteriorated paint, evidence that they had let salt sit on their car too long.  Now that I've driven my car through salted snow roads, I can now feel in my bones the same aversion to salt.  It's no longer just a theoretically sound idea to wash my car to protect it's look - I now experience a physical reaction when I see salt/sand/dirt splash on my car.

Ugh!