During family prayer last night, Jake prayed for a snow day from school...he looked at me, winked and then went to prayer. We chuckled at the end that all "righteous" prayers were answered, and that was done in the Lord's time -- not always in our time...he said he knew, that it was righteous to want to miss a day of school here and there -- kind of a mental health day -- we all need one of those from time to time, right?
Well, I'm just waiting for him to wake so I can watch the smile spread across his face when he sees that his time was the Lord's time in this instance. School is closed today, pre-emptively for the approaching storm. Looking outside right now things are calm. It's white, and pretty. The snow hasn't been disrupted by hundreds of rolling tires or snow plows. The snow covered lawns are pristine, and if the sun was up yet (it's not quite 7am yet) I would be out shooting some shots because this is when snow is beautiful. The schools closed because it's predicted that we'll have somewhere between 10-14 inches between today and tomorrow. I like when they close with forethought. It's so much worse when they open, take in the kids and then start closing midway through the morning so we all have to worry about how to pick the kiddos up.
So, what to do today? Wednesday is my laundry day, as I pointed out yesterday. As my friend Alyssa pointed out to me however, I mistook yesterday, all day long, for Wednesday. I did my laundry all day yesterday. I have no laundry to do today. I cracked up when she posted the comment that shook my reality. So, I will bundle in my freshly washed clothes, in my freshly washed throw blankets on the couch, and read a bit, make hot cocoa for the kids (because they will most certainly want to go out and play in the white stuff) and prepare to watch movies with them. Maybe throw in a game or two to boot. That's what we like to do with snow days. Dad already made cookies last night, so that usually pass-the-time-task is finished.
I am happy I had good snow days growing up in Chicago. My mom was a great snow day mom. She'd bundle me up in my warmest layered gear which took so much more time to accomplish then I would ever spend outside. I go, dig some tunnels, try to make an igloo (or at least get one started...I had that rectangular red block maker -- remember that toy?) and then in I'd come ready to strip off all the heavy gear to warm my toes in front of the fire place (a wood burning fire place, can you imagine?) with hot cocoa in my hand. Then we'd play games until it was time for her to make dinner. I loved snow days...just like my kids do.
The best snow dayS were that during the blizzard of '79. The snow drifts exceeded 10 feet. I remember when we could finally get out of our house (after a solid week - boy it would have been nice to know about food storage back then!) I crawled to the top of the biggest drift and there I was looking down on where our cars should have been, but they were completely snowed under. We could get on our first level roof of the garage no problem and with no fear of doing more than rolling into the drift on the other side. When my mom was moving from my childhood home to their townhouse in 1992 we were packing and going through all the drawers. In the china hutch there was a completely in tact newspaper from that winter and sure enough the front page told the same story - it was a fun walk down good memory lane. The blizzard is something still talked about back home.
For now I'm thrilled to live in a place where snow days are a possibility. Where my children will have memories simlar to mine. We wouldn't have many treats like this if we still lived in Phoenix. It's not like they close down for an "over-heated" day, right? :)
For those of you living here, I hope you enjoy your snow day. For those of you not here, I wish one to come to you soon!
