Nicole - Wang Q ian - #0505020189

Though a well - known saying prevails in China: “ A fall of seasonable snow gives promise of a fruitful year,” this year’s snow, which has just passed, really overwhelmed the Chinese people. At least for my family, it was the worst “storm” in my lifetime.

I woke up early on the morning of February 2 nd, 4 days before the Chinese traditional spring festival and also the day on which one of my uncles planned to come back from Guangzhou. It had been the fifth day of the heavy storm and still showed no sign of stopping. The window was covered with a thick frost and I couldn’t see through it. So I opened the window. Everything outside: the houses, the fences the barren trees were wearing a thick coat ---- round, white and bizarre.

As the electricity had cut off intermittently during the daytime (because of the storm), all our family members got together in my grandparents’ home, sitting around a stove , talking, laughing, with the expectation of the family reunion on everyone’s face.

Later on, the telephone rang. Being the nearest one to it, I picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Nicole?” the familiar voice of my uncle was on the other end of the phone.

“Yes, u ncle! How are you? Are you on the way home? We are expecting…”

“ I’m totally in a mess now,” hardly could I finish asking, my uncle interrupting hastily, “ a great number of people are stuck here right now, I could not even squeeze into the station…one of my suitcases is missing…oh, don’t push! Listen, Nicole, people are in such chaos that I have to hang up, I’ll…”

The phone was hung up in a hurry. At that moment, everyone of the family members kept silent, wondering what had happened. After I told the whole family what he said, they all worried. However, aware that we were separated by such a long distance, nothing could be done but pray.

About one hour later, my uncle called again, along with the bad news that the train he was going to take was cancelled and he could not come back. To make things worse, he was drenched from head to toe by the rainstorm in Guangzhou and had caught cold.

Disappointment and anxiety appeared on everybody’s face. I could obviously smell the extreme coldness as if the fire in the stove was frozen. The most anxious person was my aunt. She had not seen her husband (my uncle) for two years and had made great preparation for his return. She had been sleepless for two nights because of being upset about the troublesome weather.

It seemed that the chance of my uncle’s returning would be slim, then a ray of hope appeased.

After an anxious night, on the morning of the next day, unexpectedly, my aunt received the news that her brother would drive home from Shenzhen (not far from Guangzhou) and there was still a vacant seat in the car.

What great news!

Without any delay, she called my uncle, who had already had a high fever then, and gave the news to him. In spite of his sickness, my uncle wanted to come back. Therefore, my aunt made the arrangement: my uncle went to Shenzhen to meet her brother there, and then they drove home together.

On hearing the news, the whole family cheered up. However, that was just the first step of the arduous journey, for there were so many unpredictable incidents that might happen on their way in such bad weather.

At about 4:00am of the third day, I volunteered to accompany my father and my aunt to pick up my uncle at the exit of the highway.

The morning was without light but the snowfall hung and swayed like a marvelous lantern over the streets.

On the highway, the traffic was blocked up. Innumerable car lights brightened the dark sky. Extending as far as the eyes could see, the cars just inched forward.

After waiting for 4 hours ---- 3 hours more than what we had expected), my legs had been tired from jumping and my face burned. Finally my uncle’s familiar figure turned up and tumbled towards us. Though exhausted by the long journey, he hugged us without any word, tears actually sparkling in his eyes.

On New Year’s Eve, the snow was still falling unrelentingly and the wind was still whipping the window. But the warmth of the reunited family thawed the severe cold. We finally were together to celebrate the unusual spring festival.

Now, the storm had already gone, but the memory of it would never be removed from my mind and I learned that the wind could snap trees, the storm could cut off roads, but the hearts of family members would always be linked closely!