As I am writing this, I am preparing to run out the door and head to New Orleans to catch a flight to visit my sister in Indianapolis.

I have been looking forward to this trip for a couple months. We are going to a beer festival on Saturday and I will get to meet my sister’s boyfriend for the first time (he did ask why he had to ply me with beer to come).

My excitement went out the window with a single text from my mom Wednesday morning. I woke up to the blinking blue light on my phone saying I had a message and when I opened it, there it was: “Hi. Pack warm clothes, chance of snow Friday evening.”

Yes, you read that correctly. SNOW!! After Easter! Easter Sunday is supposed to be the deadline for these winter shenanigans. Yeah, I know the groundhog saw his shadow Feb. 2 calling for six more weeks of winter, but by my quick math that should have ended in mid-March.

But now here I am packing a single small carry-on (it is only a three-day trip) and trying to figure out if I should take two sweaters or three. Also, I am not sure what my mom meant by warm clothes. I live in Mississippi and before that it was Georgia and Florida. I don’t have these mythical things known as warm clothes. I have a single beanie, some thin gloves, a couple sweaters and only light coats. You can’t really pack layers in a carry-on so I had to call in some backup.

My dad was also flying to Indy yesterday and he was taking a checked bag, so I asked him to bring me a warm coat from home.

I do like cold weather. I’ve written about it a couple times in this exact space, but I like it from December to February. Now it is spring, and I can attest to that fact thanks to my stuffy nose and my formally grey car that is now yellow.

Spring has sprung somewhat in the south, although the cool mornings this week did require me to bring my coat back out.

This weekend though I am heading to the artic and I am not happy about it. It should still be a fun trip as long as I don’t freeze to death. Maybe I will get to build a snowman (my sister got enough snow to do just that only last week), hopefully drink some new and exciting beers at the festival and meet my sister’s boyfriend (to be nice or not to be nice that is the question?)

 Brandon O’Connor is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at brandon.oconnor@vicksburgpost.com.