When I was in school, I remember lying snuggled up in my bed, toasty warm underneath all of those heavy blankets, and I would hear this big, rumbly giant truck trudging down my street. A sleepy smile would split my face as I shut my alarm clock off and slowly rolled over and went back to sleep. That was the greatest sound in the world, the sound of freedom, the sound of…a city snow plow.
If you were lucky enough to hear it during the pre-dawn hours, you were pretty much guaranteed there would be no school. My unimportant little sidestreet was one of the very last streets in the city to get any kind of plowing action, so if you heard the plow, you knew things were dire indeed. I relished snow days, not only for the happy, lazy do-nothing day that lay ahead, but also for the delirious sleep-ins they afforded.
That is not how things have played out here at Casa de Katie the past two days.
I should count my blessings. The girls did let me sleep in until almost 7:30 a.m. yesterday – in this house, that’s like sleeping in until noon. Then I was fortunate enough to hand them over to their dad for four hours during the middle of the day for their Tuesday visit. Unfortunately, Bee didn’t nap at Dad’s house, so when the girls came back home, it was chaos and mayhem and screaming and crying and I-don’t-wanna’s. Huh. Now that I think about it, that’s pretty much how yesterday began, too.
This morning, I was almost hoping for work to be open. Yeah, sleeping in that 45-60 minutes is really nice, and not having to get up and really move right away is nice, but dealing with cranky kids all day? Could this really have been what my mom went through all those years ago? Because this is NOT how I remember snow and ice days playing out.
And really, if the universe is going to conspire against me to turn me into a screaming meemie, I really think it ought to at least comfort me with enough snow to let the kids frolic in. A coupla inches is all I ask for. They can go out, wonder what the heck it is, touch it, yell that it’s cold, and I can snap off a few pictures for next year’s January layout in the calendar. This ice we’re stuck with might be menacing on the roads and bridges, but it sure doesn’t work in a photoshoot dripping menacingly off the weeds in the backyard.
Annnnnnd there’s the screaming in the background again. If you don’t hear from me soon, send help martinis. Stat.
January 28, 2009 at 11:25 am |
i ALWAYS tell people my favorite sound in the world is a snow plow!!! did you guys wear your pjs inside out and backwards as good luck for a snow day?
January 28, 2009 at 12:40 pm |
they’re just not old enough to truly appreciate the freedoms…and the lack of actual snow is a buzzkill, i’m sure. remember how mom would insist that we spend at least an hour or two outside everyday, even in the snow? i think that was for her sanity as much as our good health…
January 28, 2009 at 7:07 pm |
What I want to know is how is that you’re getting snow/ice and I’m not? Cause I would just about kill for a day off right now. Did you know that I don’t get another holiday until Memorial Day??? That’s pratically criminal.
Surely you have somebody who could make a beer run for you!