There are hundreds of stories about the hardships endured by the residents of Cedar Valley during last Wednesday's blizzard. We experienced two of them.

When I drove the few miles home to American Fork, it was very different. We were happy to bundle up.

Then our daughter, Kristy, called on her cell phone to tell us she couldn't get to her Eagle Mountain home from her job teaching gymnastics at Lehi's Legacy Center. She was in her car on S.R. 73, waiting for traffic to move even just a little.

She was worried about her four children, who had been left playing at the homes of friends and about her husband, Ian, who was on a bus making the trip from downtown Salt Lake City.

Both parents were frantic, and completely at the mercy of the elements.

By 8 p.m., Kristy knew she wasn't going to get to Eagle Mountain that night. The road in was closed for the night. She joined the hundreds of cars milling around the Saratoga Springs Smith's parking lot, and used her cell phone to find someone who could stay with her kids.

Her 9- and 6-year-old sons cried on the phone, distraught that their parents had been ripped away for the night.

Eventually Kristy turned around and headed for our home in American Fork, seeking the security of familiar surroundings and sympathetic company. She wasn't happy, but she was safe, and her kids were safe, and that would have to be enough.

About the same time, Ian was on the other side of the Point of the Mountain, still in the bus which had made it from downtown Salt Lake City to Sandy in just under three hours.

We kept in touch, and when we reached him just after 10 p.m., the bus had finally reached the Thanksgiving Point exit, where his truck was parked in the park-and-ride lot.

About six commuters got off the bus and walked down the off-ramp to the parking area. The bus driver said he wasn't going to try to get off the freeway and then get back on again. They were virtually parked there anyway.

When he reached the truck, he started the engine to get warm and wait until the roads opened. Finally someone came and invited him to a church, where they had warm food and a place to rest. He finally got home at about 1 a.m., driving on the old Lehi-Fairfield Road, now call the Pony Express Parkway.

Kristy was up very early Thursday and was on her way home as well. By 6 a.m., the whole family was reunited. The storm and subsequent ordeal was just a memory.

Those experiences were echoed in the lives of hundreds of people. Many were forced to abandon their cars and then had to pay the tow truck company to retrieve them.

The storm taught some of the television stations that there aren't enough roads in and out of Cedar Valley. But would more roads have made much difference, with driving conditions similar on all of the roads? This was a weather-related incident, not a traffic one.

We all know we need more roads, and the responsible agencies are working on the funding (roads are very expensive) and other details.

But there are lessons to be learned here, the first being that sometimes weather is more powerful than any human force. Be prepared -- keep an emergency kit in the car with food, water and other necessities. Have a warm coat, even if you think you aren't going to leave the car.

And be thankful for your community. Last week, people pulled together to make it through that dark and stormy night. Neighbors cared for the children of other neighbors. Churches opened their doors to give safe haven to travelers in need. The experience of people in my family was multiplied hundreds of times.

An no one was seriously injured. That's extraordinary.