Snow Day
Teaching, like any new career, has a learning curve. While it doesn’t lack for challenges, it also doesn’t skimp on rewards, like the thrill of igniting young minds, or manicotti Monday in the cafeteria. Yesterday, I learned- actually, re-learned- the joy of snow days. Snow days had taken on a different aspect when my children were very young. Not only was I unable to offload them at school so I could enjoy a few hours of solitude, our house was the designated dumping ground for neighborhood parents with jobs they had to get to. Then, more recently, I was working from home for a west coast publisher, and the vast majority of my work was not only long-distance but on-line. There are no snow days in cyberspace.
Now that I’m working in the physical world, specifically, in the physical world of wintry New England, in a society that slaps law suits on institutions at the drop of a hat, I get to relive my childhood love of snow days. To get that 6 a.m. call that classes are cancelled for the day has reawakened the schoolgirl in me. When I heard that school was cancelled yesterday, I whooped for the first time in decades.
Maybe I’m carrying it a bit too far, but there are flurries in the forecast for tonight, and it’s quite possible the slick spots on the road could freeze up. Maybe if I put a spoon under my pillow and wear my pajamas inside-out…? My inner child is telling me it’s worth a try, because she’s really, really hoping for another snow day.
this is for tiffany and sara. my two favorite teachers i know.
