Snow Days

Oh, how I love a good snow day. One of the perks to being a teacher is that you get the occasional snow day, a day off from school due to snow or ice.

My wife and I had one yesterday, this being one of the ice-related varieties. I mean, what can be nicer than getting up at 5:15 in the morning, expecting to have to go to work, and finding out you don't. You have an unexpected free day, a day to do nothing. You can't go anywhere due to the weather, so you can't use it as an excuse to do some errands. You get to stay home where it is snug and cozy and relax, do whatever you would like, read a book, watch television, surf the Internet, play a game, anything indoors. If it is very snowy out, you will eventually need to clear the driveway and steps, but since you don't have to got to work, you can do it on your own time.

My problem is that by the time I get that phone call telling me there's no school, or by the time I see my school listed on the bottom of the TV screen on Stormcenter (love their theme music), I am wide awake. There is no way I can go back to sleep. My wife is the opposite. Which means I usually curl up in the recliner in the living room with my latest book (right now I am reading The Toomyknockers by Stephen King) and enjoy a few hours reading, drinking coffee (pumpkin flavored yesterday), and watching the snow come down (or freezing rain, yesterday).

Of course, the biggest drawback is that every time we have a snow day, it means one more day in June we have to go. Some people say, no, there are snow days built into the school calendar, we don't have to make them up until we go over a certain number. Bologna, I say. They are only there to remind people that we are likely to use snow days. If by some chance we don't use them (rarely happens), then we don't go those days. So essentially, every snow day is another day in June.

But, as long as we only have two or three or four snow days, it is more than worth it. Instant gratification, and all that.