At almost 57 years old, I can absolutely remember the excitement of waking up to a snowstorm and the possibility of having a snow day. My siblings and I would be praying in front of our kitchen tv to hear our school’s name be called out on the local news as one of the many schools that would be closed that day. Eventually, my mom would get ‘the call’ confirming what we already knew – it was a snow day! I’m not sure that my mother was as happy as us kids were, but boy do I remember how happy I was hearing those 2 words – ‘snow day!’ We stayed in our pajamas, watched tv and then, eventually, helped with the shoveling. When my kids had snow days, we celebrated too with our own traditions. I usually baked cookies, they played outside, and we had little ‘comfort food’ appetizers for dinner.

Today, the weather forecasters are putting out all sorts of winter storm warnings for tonight and tomorrow. It has brought my memories flooding back with a bit of sadness. You see, I have my last high school senior still at home. Normally, we would be celebrating the chance of that unexpected day off. However, this year is different of course. We will not be anxiously awaiting that automated call from the district saying that school is cancelled tomorrow, or watching for cancelled school posts on Facebook. Due to educational technology in response to the pandemic, school will continue inside my son’s bedroom, whether it snows or not. While I continue to take note of some of the lasts that I will share with my youngest son, the snow day actually may be a wonderful and magical memory from the past for all of us.

No worries. We can still bake cookies!