When I was a young girl, whenever it had occurred to me that snow was in my future, I made sure to go through preparation which at the time seemed nothing short of appropriate: every hour or so, I’d check the Snow Day Calculator website and I hoped that the percentages would increase. Later, when I got ready for bed, I intentionally put on my pajamas inside out and slipped a spoon underneath my pillow. While all of my antics were based off of dated superstitions that had been passed along through the years, it was no game to my friends and I when given the possibility of a day off from school.
As soon as I woke up the next morning, I’d dash to my window. If the images of yellow school buses flooded my vision, I knew to drag myself out of bed and into my school clothes for just another ordinary day.
On the other hand, if the roads were covered by layers of white, I’d call up my friends from the neighborhood and we’d play outside until the sky went dark. Then, we’d sit around my kitchen table with our faces beat red as we sipped on our hot chocolate. We’d then go to sleep later that night as if it were no different than any other.
As I’m writing this, I’m on break from school so I’m home for the week. While I had planned to set aside enough time to relax and refuel for the remaining weeks of the semester, there are a number of errands that need running, people that need seeing, and many generic “things” that need to be done for my own enjoyment.
Upon the realization yesterday that a supposed “Nor’easter” was on its way, I instinctively found myself sighing with grief, as I knew I’d be spending the next hours snowed in. Not to mention, I'd have to help shovel the mounds of snow that had piled up on my driveway. Even though sleeping in and gluing my eyes to my television would be a treat, I feel as though this treat can only be satisfying for a certain amount of time. There’s so much that lies outside of the walls of my house that I can give my attention to, to ultimately make my time at home more fulfilling.
Additionally, now that I’m older and have been gifted a driver’s license, it seems as though my desire to travel places only deepens when the snow piled up outside my doorstep heightens. Just today, I’ve miraculously decided that it’s time to do many of the things I’ve been pushing off that could’ve been done when it wasn’t snowing, but I just hadn’t taken the time to do them. In reality, I realized that I’m really not dying to do any these things, I’m just bored. A snow day comes to a peak of boredom, usually in the early afternoon, when the feeling of being trapped reaches its highest level. No matter how badly you may want to do something, chances are you won’t be able to. It’s annoying, to say the very least.
Now that I’m older and haven’t made any snow angels recently, the world waits for me to complete my adult-ish responisibilies. This process is only hindered by the occurrence of a snow day, and while it was fun as a child, at night I’ll rest anxiously for the next day to start so I can make up for the time I had lost yesterday.
