Panic or Preparation

I live in the south and we get very little snow here. We are currently gearing up for what could be the biggest snow/ice event in over a decade. It frustrates me how Northeners tend to have such attitude at our ineptness when we get winter weather. They make fun of our driving, but when you only have the chance to drive on ice/snow once every few years, you hardly have time to learn how to do it well. They make fun of our school and business closings, but when you rarely have winter weather events, it's hardly cost effective for your local governments to stock up on winter weather equipment. They make fun of us running to the store, but in the south (I can't speak for the North) our power often goes out when we have winter weather and often our pipes freeze (The transformer in front of our house has blown several times during storms. There are only 4 houses on it and we are hardly a priority if there are mass outages. Typically, we are one of the last to get our power restored). It's just different here and very hard to be prepared for something that rarely ever occurs. I hardly call what we do at my home panic, but would definitely call it preparation. I will buy necesseties that we may need over the next several days in case I can't get to the grocery store (I live in a rural area, so it's unlikely that any of our roads will be salted or sanded). My husband will make sure that the grill, coleman camp stove and kerosene heaters are all operational (we also have a propane heater, so we should stay warm without issue). I'll make sure that we have plenty of food that doesn't need to be cooked in the microwave or oven or with water. I plan to make a few pots of homemade soup today, to put in the freezer and I'll make sure to have ceral and sandwich fixings on hand. I'm not scared of the weather, I just want to be ready in case I need to be. So, we'll all be spending our day in preparation and prayer that we will keep power and water and for safety in our areas.