The rumors, oh the rumors! Your ears perk up at the words "nor'easter" or "cancellations" from the news the night before. You get butterflies with anticipation. Could it be? Will it be enough? Will it accumulate at the right time? You see a few flakes fall from the dark night sky and get so excited! At this point you're thinking - well how can I sleep at a time like this? You know you should because it's a school night...or is it?! Eventually you do fall asleep because you're a kid and you run yourself ragged during the day.
You wake up. While still laying down in your bed you look towards the window and see some snow on the branches of trees. Will it be enough?! You clench your eyes shut tight, hold your breath and cross your fingers as you sit up. You open them and see a beautiful winter
wonderland!! You literally jump out of bed and run downstairs to confirm the cancellation of school via the scrolling banner at the bottom of the TV screen. Regional District 9....Regional District 10....Regional District 11! SNOW DAY!!!
This is what dreams are made of! A double-whammy! You don't have to go to school (even better if it's a Friday snow day) AND you get to play in the fresh 2 feet of snow! Oh, the adventures you're going to have! You scramble around looking for your snow pants and your boots. The two essential because the fact that it's 30 degrees out is the very last thing on your mind! You just can't seem to get them on fast enough. You try to dart out but your parents know better. They slap a hat, some gloves and a jacket on you as you race out the door. SNOW! Oh, glorious snow! You start making snow angels because it's cool to see your outline! When else can you do that? Once you get bored with that you move on. There are endless possibilities of snow adventures.
You call up the neighbor kids because they, obviously, are just as ecstatic about the snow day as you are. You arrange a time to sled, what sleds to bring and which ones to just leave behind because they really just aren't fast enough. You talk of the possibilities of snow ball fights and igloos. Of course, you have to wait the plowing guy gets to your house to make the perfect pile to house your new fort. While you wait, you run (as fast as you can run in snow pants and boots) to the hill and you sled the day away, building jumps, having races and an impromptu snowball fight breaks out!
What's that noise? You stop to listen...snowplow! Heading back to your house or your friends' you see the freshly plowed driveway and start digging your fort. Hours can be spent on this - building different rooms, a secret entrance and maybe even putting in some furnishings if you can sneak them out of the house without Mom seeing. You think you've put the final touches on it when your older brother gets carried away and rambunctious and crawls on the top of your fort and it collapses! SO frustrating! It feels like the end of the world but then you remember you have all weekend! The weekend weather outlook is cold and there is a possibility of more snow so there is no chance it'll melt away. Phew! You head inside, utterly exhausted from your snowy escapades and warm up with a cup of hot chocolate. Winter is just absolutely wonderful!
Fast forward 20 years...
Your ears perk up, hearing the words and phrases "blizzard" or "hopefully the plows can keep up" and "white out conditions." You get that feeling in the pit of your stomach - that drop and aching feeling. Could it be? How much will it be? How much earlier will I have to wake up to compensate for my commute? You dread going to sleep knowing that morning will be here that much sooner but it's a work night so you know you should. Or is it? Yes, of course it is. You don't get snow days in real life.
You wake up to that annoying beep of your alarm clock, which you set 45 minutes earlier to make up for the lousy driving conditions. You immediately slam the snooze button and pull the covers over your head where it's warm and cozy. Nine minutes later (whoever decided 9 minutes was a good length of time between snoozes?!) that f*#@&% alarm goes off again. You grab a pair of sweatpants off your bedroom floor and pull them under the covers to warm up before you put them on. Why are they cold? Because you're a grown up now and you have to pay for heat and you're poor because the economy is sh*t so you drop it down at night. Eventually you're covered head to toe, possibly even taking the comforter with you, as you bee-line it to the coffee pot. You stub your toe on the door jam because you're up before the sun to make it to your mediocre job on time. You turn on the TV to hear more bad news. More snow. Temperatures holding steady in the teens, pretty much until Spring.
After turning some lights on, getting some hot coffee in you and getting dressed- you're thinking okay, I can do this. You peak outside for the first time this morning and see the damage done. Great! Two feet of cold, wet, heavy snow on top of your car, which you have to shovel off before
you can even think of opening your car door. There is no pre-heated, snow free school bus taking you to work. Those were the days of the past, my friend. Now, not only do you need a shovel, you also need an ice scrapper because a little bit of the snow against your windshield melted early last night and then froze over night.
You put on your enormous heavy clunkers of snow boots, a hat, wrap your scarf around your entire face just so only your eyes peak out, your heaviest winter jacket and you head out. Driver side door first so you can start your car and warm it up. You think you're in the clear and open your door just as a strong gust of wind picks up and drops a pile of snow on your seat. Wet seat.
You eventually get your car all cleaned off and dug out just as the apartment complex plow shows up - of course. Oh well, bad timing as usual. As they plow the parking lot for you, they actually leave a foot and a half pile right behind your car. Out you go with your shovel again! At least this is all for 8 hours of joy, sunshine and friendly, competent people, right? Oh wait. You're an adult, you have idiots for co-workers at this "for now" job that you absolutely hate and you work in a 5x5 cubicle with no windows. As you drive to this job of yours, there is a backup on the highway because some idiot doesn't know how to drive in the snow and they're pulling their car out of a ditch. This makes you 15 minutes late for work, which makes you loose your holiday bonus (which was going to pay for your Christmas presents). Sorry friends and family!
At least while staring at your computer screen for 10 hours (because now you have to work overtime) you can enjoy the company provided heat. The commute home isn't much better since it hasn't stopped snowing yet. You get home and are utterly exhausted from your day and you warm up with a cup of hot chocolate (spiked with McGillicuddy's obviously, after the day you had!). You settle onto your couch and a partial smile shows up across your face until you realize the weekend weather outlook is cold and there is a possibility of more snow so there is no chance it'll melt away...
Is it spring yet?
