snow days

I don't know when Utah officially adopted the tag line "the greatest snow on earth" but today I was inclined to want to amend it to "the greatest AMOUNT of snow on earth." Church was canceled yesterday, and this morning the weatherman stated that Liberty received 29 inches of new snow from the weekend storm. Judging from the height of stature the white stuff in my yard has attained, I am not convinced that its latest growth spurt could be measured with just one yardstick.

In a news report last night they announced that the schools here in the valley would be closed today due to the heavy snowfall. While I am not directly effected by the closures (I am no longer a student and do not have school aged children) I nevertheless thrilled at the news.

I remember "snow days" happening quite often as a youth, but have not been aware of them occurring much in the recent past. As a young student, I recall staying up late watching the weather report with fingers crossed, hoping to hear those magic words: "There will be no school tomorrow," and hovering around the radio the next morning to confirm the good news. After the initial cheer, my sisters and I would plan how to spend our "day off." Activities would vary, depending on whether or not the power service was still intact, but most likely my mother would cater the event with homemade hot chocolate. Quite often we would bundle up and go outside to create forts, follow tracks of "strange creatures" or forge our own trails down to the corner. While these activities were quite common on winter weekends, weekday romps were something special. As I got older, the time of reprieve was mostly spent catching up on unfinished homework, and offering a prayer of thanks for a day of extension. Either way, for a bundled up boy or a teen-aged procrastinator, snow days were always considered a bonus.

With all the talk of global warming, I was afraid that snow days were a thing of the past. Perhaps it is because of climate change that we experience extreme weather. Regardless, I like the notion that occasionally we get surprised by an unexpected extra long weekend or a deadline reprieve. While there is order to the elements, sometimes they are a source of serendipity; and even in the midst of routine one can be extended a period of grace.

Long live "snow days."