The precipitation and the temperatures began to fall around lunch time, not in the form of snow but a mixed bag that would soon include freezing drizzle.  The talk among the adults was, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we had a snow day tomorrow?  Yes, tomorrow is the last day before break and surely we will survive one more day, but wouldn’t it be nice?  At the end of the day I scraped the ice from the windshield and drivers side of my car as well as a friend’s car, still thinking, wouldn’t it be nice?  Well, chances are it won’t happen, but maybe it’s because we didn’t do any kind of snow dance.

I taught at one school where everyone shook the snow gourd.  It hung just outside of the teacher’s lounge and as each teacher walked by it, if it even hinted at snow, we shook it.  There are actual rituals performed by students and teachers alike to try and encourage the snow to fall.  Apparently wearing your pj’s either inside out or backwards works, sleeping with a spoon under your pillow and flushing ice down the toilet are tried and true methods.  I’ve never tried any of those myself, preferring to do the ritual snow dance instead.

There is nothing like hearing the announcement that your school district has a snow day on the local evening news and getting the phone call, which now includes an email and a text message, all automated.  In the old days I remember we had a calling tree and we all had someone we had to call.  It was actually a lot of fun to tell someone else we had a snow day!

As adults, you wouldn’t think it would be that big a deal, but let me try to explain it from a teacher’s point of view.  You see, most teachers I know don’t take very many sick days or personal days.  Quite frankly, it’s just too much trouble to do lesson plans.  Something I can do in bullet points in six little boxes in my plan book translates to 3-4 or more typed pages for a substitute.  And if I’m gone for more than a day, it’s going to be even more.  So imagine, a mental health day where I don’t have to write plans, I can’t go anywhere and I’m stuck in the house under a blanket on the couch with a good book without feeling guilty.

You see, even if I’m actually sick, there is this feeling of guilt because I didn’t suck it up to go to school.  I have to be REALLY sick not to care, but even then I have to have lesson plans anyway.  To have a free day during the week, compliments of mother nature and not having to write lesson plans is literally a gift from the snow gods.  It’s an excuse to play hooky and feel like a kid again, to sleep in, to watch TV, to sit and drink hot chocolate and watch the snow fall.

There’s also the calculations of how much ice, snow and wind we have and the most important variable, what is happening around 4:00-5:00 a.m.  If it’s too much to clean up before school starts or is still falling, we usually have a snow day.  While I prefer a call in the evening, there’s also something special about that 5:30 a.m. call where you can answer, turn off the alarm and just roll back over.  All of a sudden the bed just feels so much cozier.

But although we’re under a winter weather advisory until 9:00 tonight, it’s not enough precipitation for long enough or cold enough that we’ll have a snow day tomorrow.  That’s okay however.  I’m thinking about mid January we’ll be ready for one and I’ll have my snow dance ready.