I'm sure you've heard it said, as a preface to the utterance of some near impossibility, "It'll be a cold day in hell when [insert severe improbability]." Only slightly less well known is the corollary preface, "It'll be a snowy day in San Antonio when [insert equally unlikely event]."

Well, I don't know how hell is feeling about now, but this must be the day for all the unlikelies to be rejoicing. Because it's a snowy day in San Antonio.

Now some of you will snicker at our 1/2-3/4" of snow while you're still digging out from your 22" driveway mounds. But consider: the last time we had even a dusting was in 2004, and the last time there was any accumulation was 1985. So there are 25-year olds in our city who have never made a snow angel or pelted their little brothers with snowballs. And there are many who've never seen snow fall at all.

While I dearly love a good snow and am one of the few in this country who can be snowed in for two weeks and still hope for more, the timing of today's snowfall following a week of hard freezes brings a bit of a sting: today, we were supposed to watch our son graduate from Air Force BMT (Basic Military Training) along with a large crowd of well-wishers from our family, church, and wider circle of friends. Instead, because all roads in our usually balmy city are closed this morning, there will simply be an "announced" graduation and Nathan will be free to come and spend the afternoon and evening with us, IF the roads open in time.

The winter storm was, all along, a very improbable occurrence in San Antonio. What was not improbable was our son's successful completion of his training and his passing through another gate of adulthood, one which has changed him in ways that will affect his entire life and future.While sitting and talking with him at the base yesterday, I was fascinated to see and hear the subtle changes in him as a result of two months of grueling training, profound disappointments, and soaring triumphs. Few experiences in a young man's life can distill all these into so short a time and make so large an impact as entry into the military. And it goes without saying that few career moves make such a large contribution to the Constitution's prescription for us to "provide for the common defense" as the one a young man or woman makes to enter our country's armed forces and serve her with vigor.

So today, in spite of the ice on the roads and the sub-freezing temperatures in our city, we honor our son as the newest official graduate of AF BMT and member of the Texas Air National Guard. Congratulations, Amn. Warren.

(Amn. Nathan J. Warren with his happy "significant other," Cheyenne Sabo)