Snow: that fluffy, white, frozen liquid that generally falls from the sky between the months of December and March.

Most people I know enjoy the snow. They enjoy snowball fights and skiing/snowboarding and sledding. They enjoy spending time around a fire eating a warm bowl of soup or chili and spending time with their families. They enjoy being out of school.

This enjoyment comes only after a brief period of panic.

If you have ever had the privilege of being in a southern state before it snows, you know exactly what I am referring to. The week before it is supposed to snow might as well be the week before the apocalypse. Everyone starts getting their heavy winter clothing together, making sure they have gloves and scarves and jackets and thick socks. Woodpiles are stocked and kerosene and space heaters are bought. Parking lots are salted and roads are covered in brine.

And good luck attempting to buy groceries. Every store for miles is out of bread and milk. Even the dollar stores are running low on supplies. I mean who decided bread and milk were the staples of surviving snow? Not to mention the fact that the majority of people will still go out in it anyway.

And all of this preparation is before the first snowflake even falls.

The first snowflake falling reminds me of that scene from A Bug's Life where the last leaf falls off the tree and all of the ants panic because Hopper is coming. Or when you pour water onto an ant hill and suddenly ants are pouring out all over the place. As soon as the snow starts falling, everyone goes berserk. Many years ago, when I was in the seventh grade, my entire English class stared out of the window until the first flake fell and then we went crazy, accomplishing nothing in class, until the principal came over the speaker that school was canceled for the rest of the day and for us to contact our parents. The world is pretty much ending if there is barely an inch of snow on the ground.

Being at home when it snows has come to mean something completely different to me than what it meant growing up. I go to school at Appalachian State University. I have seen snow, and a lot of it. When I was younger, I got just as excited at the person when the possibility of snow was mentioned. Now I just laugh at the image of a "snowstorm" that used to pop into my head and at the delirium it causes in everyone in my county. In Cleveland County, two inches is "snowed in." At App, you still walk to class in 33 miles per hour winds while it is snowing profusely. Snowed in is when there is over a foot of snow on the ground and you literally cannot get out of the building.

I have grown to find snow in the south a hilarious idea. So, have fun in your apocalypse state. Play in the scary situation that is winter. Stay safe. Stay warm.