Whopeee! A Snow Day!
It snowed, and it snowed and it snowed. And after that. . . it snowed
some more!
It was a quiet morning when I heard my husband call to the
boys, "Rise and Shine"!!
"So early, I thought. Was it really time to get up already?'
Philip hit the floor running. He always did: forever looking for
what was around the next corner. John, . . .low gear John . . .dumped himself
out of bed, and with eyes still half closed, slowly maneuvered his
way down the hall. Andy, rummaging around in his room, whined, "Oh
man . . .I gotta do my spelling words yet!"
As Dad herded this "happy huddle" into the sunny dining room, he
slowly turned to the window, "Oh Wow! Look outside! It really
snowed last night!"
He clicked on the radio and chuckled, " Hummmmm? . . .I wonder if
there will be school today." It got very quiet as all three scruffy
heads swung around toward Dad and the newsworthy clock radio.
No School? Could it be? They sat still... Not even breathing . . . Oh
please -- please -- pleeease, they silently prayed in unison as the
announcer read the long list of school closings. Why did our town,
an S, always have to be at the end of the long list?
Even the dog had a wistful look of hope on his face as his ears
tilted forward in anticipation.
Andy sat with eyes closed and fingers double-crossed on each hand.
Ohhh!! -- A reprieve from that Spelling! PLEEEASE!!!!!!
Then, the happiest words on earth! He said it! Schofield . . . all
schools closed! Ohhhhh! A Snow Dayyyy!!!!! The cheers went up!
They yelled with the sheer joy of only the young! Whoooppeee!!!!
Watching from a safe distance, the cat sat with a haughty look on his
face, as if to say, "Oh good grief, my peaceful day is shot!" (No one
seemed to notice or care!)
A snow day! A snow day! They came bounding down the hall and onto
my bed! Laughing, cheering, and barking as they scrambled around me,
just in case I had not heard the fantastic news!
I thought, "What a transformation! Are these the same slugs that I
heard only moments earlier, dragging their half dead carcass's down
the hall and into another grueling day of homework and spelling tests?
I dug my head down deeper into my warm pillow and drew the cozy down
comforter closely under my chin.
"Ahhhh . . . A snow day!" You see, I worked for the school district, and
had the same schedule as my children!
A free day! A day disconnected from any other. We didn't work
for it. We didn't earn it or even ask for it. It was just there.
What a wonderful gift! A new day. Nothing planned. Just as
pristine as a clean white sheet just off the line! Nothing had
touched it. No claims had been made to any part of it. It lay
before us, an invitation to enjoy it fully, happily and without
reserve.
It was a cereal-in-the-living-room-day, a squeezie-cheese-and-cracker-day, a TV-dinner-day!
Andy quietly tucked his spelling sheet back into his school bag, John
was doing his very own style of the Happy Dance and it would take a
very large spatula to scrape Philip off the ceiling!
As the kids finally settled down in front of Captain Kangaroo and Mr.
Green Jeans, I relaxed and slowly began to enjoy this special day.
The sun shown like a million diamonds on the gigantic white waves of
drifted snow, mimicking the blue-green oceans so far, far away from
Central Wisconsin. This was a whole new world to discover.
Their large and playful dog led the party of brave scouts, dressed in
snow pants, scarves and warm mittens as they began their quest into
the sea of white. They were on the way to the discovery of hidden
caves and new adventures. I watched from the warm house as they dug
and scraped, hauled and carried their way into the side of the
largest drift in our Yard of Transformations. Finally they stood
back, with the satisfied look of architects and builders on their
faces and declared it completed!
Suddenly John turned to the window and waved a soggy mitten at
me. "His face and warm smile an invitation for me to "Come have a
look! See what we built!!" This was an offer I just couldn't pass
up.
I donned my warmest jacket, hat and mittens. I pulled on my Canadian
Sorrels and headed for the back door. The proud proprietors of this
icy establishment invited me to "crawl on in!" "Come on Mom, it's so
cool!" You'll love it", they all chimed!
I crawled into this nether world of boys, dogs and long forgotten
memories. We all snuggled together. Their faces, sweaty from hard
work, noses running from the cold, the smell of wet wool, combined
with a panting 80-pound dog humbled me. This was the world of
children. And I was invited in. There was no other place on earth
that I would rather have been.
I felt like the luckiest Mother in the whole world!
[ by: RoseMary Salzman, Copyright © 2002 (prsalz@vbe.com) -- from '2THEHEART' ]
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