By MARGARET PARTEE
My 25-year-old grandson, Matthew, has always been interested in meteorology – especially when it involves big storms of any description. He lives and works in Boston. When Matt was 12 years old I took him to the NOAA Weather Station in Old Hickory. It was an overcast day when we arrived and storms were moving in. The staff was busy tracking the storms on their screens so they could issue any necessary weather warnings. Matt got a good look at what goes on in this type of situation.

A little while later, we followed one of the men out to the open area in back and watched as he launched the scheduled weather balloon. I really thought that Matt would pursue a degree in some meteorological field as he was seriously interested in it and would follow the weather on whatever sites exist for that purpose. But he has a degree in Financial Management.

His interest in the weather has not waned however, and if you are planning a big event and wonder about the weather, ask Matt. He is sure to be tracking it. I guess he got some of his fascination for storms from his father. When most people would be running for cover due to a stormy, windy, rainy, blowy, weather event, his dad would go out and stand in it. So does Matt.

During our first snow storm in early December 2010, I talked to Matt and it was raining in Boston! They had not yet had a flake of snow and he was put perturbed. Every storm had just bypassed Boston and attacked all around. Finally, the following week, they got a bit of a snow.  So when he was getting ready to fly home for the Christmas holidays, I told him we were going to have a white Christmas. He was elated. But, of course, he already knew that. 

All my family came over on Christmas Eve. No snow yet. They all went home that evening. The next morning we did awaken to a white Christmas. Hallelujah. I looked on Facebook to see what Matt had to say and he had changed his profile picture. He had on a bright green tee and was standing in the snow with his arms raised to the sky, a big smile on his face and fat snowflakes falling all around him!

That’s good. Matt got his white Christmas. He was due to fly back to Boston on Sunday night to return to work the following morning. NOT! His flight was cancelled but he rebooked for Monday morning. He called me close to noon that day and said he was in St. Louis. They had made it to the airport without incident, and the flight left although it was a bit late. Then in St. Louis (there are no direct flights to Boston!) he was told all flights to Boston were cancelled and they were flying him back to Nashville. 

I knew he would be upset that he was missing the blizzard and it made me sad. They had one in Boston several years ago when he was in school and classes were even briefly suspended.  He loved it. Shortly I saw the following written on his Facebook wall -- “I wanted a blizzard but I wanted to be in it!”

Poor Matt. Eventually he rescheduled for Wednesday afternoon but then Tuesday night I got a call and he had just arrived in Boston. 

Seems his boss was giving him a hard time for missing work. I told him to tell the bad man that his grandma would come up there and deal with him if he was mean to him. After all, the entire Eastern United States was shut down. How was Matt expected to get to Boston? He pestered the airlines, I feel certain, until he finally scored a flight for Tuesday night. Last seat and all that.

I was so sorry that Matt missed the blizzard in Boston. But at least he was not trapped in an airport for days like so many were. I understand the St. Louis airport is nothing to brag about!! He did get to spend the time with his family so he was lucky in that respect. 

As I am writing Matt says this current storm system “is very tricky due to…a Norlund trough.”  Whatever!

He says it’s hard to predict and he is still waiting. I do hope that Boston has a fantastic storm this time especially for Matthew. And I hope his boss man gets trapped in it and can’t get home!!! Bad grandma!! Love you Matt!