No day like a snow day

If this isn't life in the Midwest, I don't know what is.

As I write this, around 5 o'clock Wednesday, it's 68 degrees and humid. By this time tomorrow, if the forecast holds--and for the sake of my topic, let's throw the weather guy a bone and assume that it will--it'll be 28 degrees. What kind of weather will accompany this forty degree drop? All of it! Rain, thunderstorms, freezing rain, sleet, ice, and snow are each expected. Considering that even the normally conservative weather service is guesstimating 6-10 inches of snow, it seems a safe bet that the shovels and de-icer will be making their first appearances of the season before the weekend. It's not even December! Hey Al, are we SURE about this global warming thing?

The upside, of course, is the magic phrase that dances through my head any time the forecast gets wintry: snow day! They might kick me out of the NEA for admitting it, but I'm not ashamed to say that sometimes there is no joy like snow day joy. It's just as good as you remember. Of course, these days, clicking the list on a local station's website has replaced intently listening to the radio. Instead of being frozen in place lest I miss my district's name among all those Catholic schools that seemed to close at the first sign of a flake, I sit in the dark and reload the page. The anticipation, however, is the same.

Sure, in the light of day, the screwed up schedules can be a pain, and when Madison's school closes and mine doesn't my mood is significantly darker as we scramble to plan the day, but the moment we both hit the closed-school jackpot is a pure pleasure rare in the grown-up world. Whatever responsibilities I had that day, I can't complete, and it's not my fault; the weight of daily life is lifted. Maybe I'll do something productive later, use the bonus time to catch up or get ahead. Hey, it could happen. But first I get to go play early-morning Santa Claus and whisper "snow day!" to Madison before jumping right back into bed as those with less fortuitous career choices scrape windshields and shovel drives. Snow day! May we all have one sometime.