Snow Day?

Snow is silently falling outside my window, coating the street and sidewalk with a light white covering and a sense of peace that comes from natural beauty intersecting with our busy lives. Inside I'm hitting refresh on my email every five seconds, waiting for those brilliant few lines saying, "go back to sleep, we've closed schools today," or even, "two hour delay." We've been back at school for only a day, but the excitement over a snow day- especially the first snow day of the year- isn't something that follows any logic.

5:25. No email yet. Snow still falling.

Over winter break my Facebook feed started to fill with teacher comments about snow this week. On one person's excited "Snow?" status I noticed an angry commenter, who asked just how lazy teachers are to have two full weeks off and then be hoping for more days off. If I squint my eyes I can kind of see her point. I'm assuming that she has at least three children at home, had her own work schedule thrown off by the two week break, and is ready to send her kids back to school. She wants routine. Or maybe she has a horrible, boring job that would never allow her to experience the joy of snow. I have a small bit of sympathy, but not enough to agree that we shouldn't be excited about a snow day.

5:30. Website still has yesterday's date. No sign of a snow day.

It's not that we're lazy, don't want to work, don't like our jobs or don't care about our students. It's pretty much the opposite. If we are working all the time, thinking about our students all the time, and putting in long hours that we don't actually get paid for, snow days are like our Christmas bonus. Other professionals get to look forward to a check at the end of the year for a job well done. Snow days are our bonus check from God, thanking us for our hard work and telling us to keep it up. Here's a day off. Some teachers will go into work anyway if their buildings are open and try to get work done. Others will work from home, and some will stay in their pajamas all day and watch movies. Use it how you see fit. It's a snow day.

5:40am. Still no announcement. Toddler starting to stir upstairs.

I feel for those of you who work in warm weather states because you don't experience the elation of waking up to find you've been given a random day off. I'm sure you find joy in not having recess duty in 35 degree weather, but still. Snow days are a special sort of magic.

5:43. Why is there no announcement yet? Starting to get worried. By now they've got the buses up and running.

5:49. Things are looking grim. Time to face the reality of cleaning off the car and going into work on time. Could it be?