Snow Day!

It is 9:30 in the morning on a Monday, as I sit at my computer listening to the sound of the snowplow making its second trip up my street since it began snowing early this morning. We have a snow day!

It is not just the kids that look forward to snow days, it is also, and perhaps even more so, the teachers and other school staff that look forward to them. An unexpected day off! What could be better than that?

This is how it generally works at my house:

My alarm goes off at the usual time, 5:00. Instead of hitting the snooze button three times, I usually only hit it once before I am up. I stumble to the kitchen and turn on the small TV we have sitting on the bar. I hear the familiar music of Storm Center, the alternative music played on WLBZ-TV on days when a snow storm is under way. The news anchors, Lee Nelson and Sharon Rose, and the weather man, Kevin Mannix, are wearing sweaters instead of their usual attire. But my eyes are not interested in what they are wearing. They immediately fall to the bottom of the screen where the school cancellations are flashing. I'm looking for SAD 56 (my school) or SAD 3 (Cara's). Meanwhile, my ear is listening for the phone to ring, anticipating the call from one school or the other with the simple message: no school. Usually I see Cara's school on TV first and usually I get the phone call before Cara does. Cara, not waiting for the call from her phone tree, usually calls the next person in line once she hears from me that her school has come up on the TV. (I know, you aren't supposed to do that, but Cara doesn't care.)

Once it has been established that neither of us have school (and only once in seven years has one of us had school and the other not), Cara, who has not yet left bed, goes back to sleep. Me, I am too awake by now to sleep, and get my current book and sit in the recliner and read, while waiting for the coffee to be ready. I usually get a couple hours of reading in before Cara (the smart one) wakes up. Then we spend as much of the day as possible doing nothing. At some point, I will need to scoop and shovel the driveway, but I try not to think of that.

Why do we so look forward to snow days? We do have to make them all up at the end of the year. Most likely, instant gratification. Do we regret it in June when we seem to be the only school still in session? A little. But to be honest, I'd rather go to school a couple extra days in June when I get home from school and have 6 hours of daylight, than to go in the middle of the winter and get home and have 2 hours of daylight. There is something cosy about lazing around the house with the snow falling outside your window knowing there is nothing you need to accomplish today except whatever you feel like.