First Snow Day: November

On a cold winter morning in 1994, I drove the 1.5 miles from 11048 Brooks Lane to Plymouth-Salem High School to discover an empty parking lot. Snow whipped across the vacant spots like tumbleweeds across the desert. My little Escort station wagon sat there and sighed. "What is going on?" asked the wipers as they pushed snow off the windshield. 

I was only in Great Lakes country for 18 months at that point, my body and blood having been rudely awakened from an earlier lifetime in sunny Southern California. Warm coastal breezes and 75 degree days filled my heart. Short version: My parents, still married at the time, moved my then 11 year old brother and myself (16 years old) from Costa Mesa, California to Plymouth, Michigan. I barely survived my first year there commuting 50+ miles round trip to a tiny private Lutheran school. I jumped that ship and attended my one and only year at a public school. To top it off: it was my senior year. 

That cold winter day, I discovered a two word concept no one bothered to tell me about: Snow. Days. Not one person said anything about the ritual of turning on the tv and hoping to see your school's name slink along the bottom of the screen. No one explained the process of tuning into your favorite radio show as the morning dj read over the schools that we closed due to too much snow.  Nowadays there are robocalls and text updates; bitmoji messages from co-workers and refreshed computer screens sharing the good news of canceled school. But in 1994 there was just a cold CA gal in a crappy car and her lonely commute to an empty school. 

Flash forward to November 2019: SNOW DAY 2019! Text messages rolled in 4:40 am announcing those golden words every teacher longs for every once in a while. At 5:48 am another from my daughter's school announcing their day is canceled. What's a mom to do? Enjoy....and model for my daughters what a snow days looks like, sounds like, and feels like.

1st of many snow day activities

photo credit: M. Tatlock, age 3