Snow Day?

The weather forecast said we could have snow, and lots of it, which for us means about an inch. We live in the foothills of the foothills. The mountains get considerably more snow that we on the outskirts of the middle of nowhere. Fortunately for my kids, and unfortunately for my work-from-home husband, our county school system includes schools in the mountains as well as ours in the relative flat land. So we can have no snow at all but still schools will be closed because the winding, shaded mountain roads are icy and dangerous. Our snow melts in about five minutes; theirs in about five days.

This morning dawned shiny and white, with every bit of that inch of snow glowing like white teeth in a Pepsodent commercial. The sun comes up from behind our house, which means the front yard, including the driveway, melts last. Being the good mother that I am, I sent the kids outside to evaluate driving conditons. Julian came back and reported a solid sheet of ice beneath the driveway snow. I didn't believe him, thinking he was just trying to ground me to get me back for the gazillion times he's been grounded, so my husband went out to double check, and sure enough it was a skating rink.

So I settled in for a long winter's nap, and slept for hours and hours. Oh no, wait, that was what I WISH had happened. Instead, I drank every caffeinated liquid in the house, ate everything that didn't run away from me, and got in the shower. After having spent the weekend out of town in a hotel enjoying the mother of all high-pressure showers, it was disappointing to be in our wimpy little shower where you must stand directly beneath the drip to have any hope of actually getting wet. And if any of the men in our family have taken a shower any time in the past eight hours, there will be no hot water. Got dressed in third string clothes since the ones that fit were in the laundry, and tried to get some work done.

But I didn't. I sat down for a minute and in spite of the caffeine, fell asleep. Sweet, wonderful, marvelous, beautiful sleep...the kind with colorful delicious dreams...until.... I realized Julian's face was about an inch in front of mine. "Mom? It's supposed to snow more tonight so maybe tomorrow we'll have a real snow day." Well thank goodness he woke me up to tell me that! I couldn't have lived another day without knowing.

Today, you see, doesn't count as a real snow day because school was already out for President's Day. So no matter how much fun the kids have destroying the deck and the yard and the neighbor's yards, it does not meet kid criteria for a genuine crazy happy snow day.

I'll keep you posted about tomorrow, just in case we get the real deal.