SNOW DAY

Looking out the dining-room window this morning: Reggie's footprints head east, crossing apparent footprints of another sort.

Snow has been the buzzword around these parts for a couple days. Predictions have varied widely, and one estimate predicted "between .5 and eight inches." Really? They need a meteorologist for that? Half-an-inch to eight full ones? Quite a range.

I confessed to a friend that for whatever reason, I felt excited about the pending snowfall. I also had to chuckle to myself: Isn't that what we've all had for approaching a year now, to one degree or another? A continuous snow day without end?

So what was there about an actual prediction of snow that brought out the kid hoping for a snow day in many of us? One pal posted on Facebook that she hopes "we get every flake." I think it has something to do with that primal idea of being comfortable, cozy, safe, and warm while something a little exciting and a little uncertain is happening nearby, such as out our front door.

Where I live in central Indiana, we have had only skiffs of the white stuff; and maybe only a couple of those. Ever since fall, when I started making plans for my first winter of not being gainfully employed since 1982 (and back then, fighting a rough winter driving a distance to finish my journalism degree).

This past fall, I had envisioned a January from the comfort of my writing chair, working on a personal writing project, and watching the snow fly beyond my window. It looks like January will pass without that image. The snow didn't start until dark last night, so I couldn't see it fall, but heard the slush of it hit the window during the evening hours.

This morning I awakened to a winter wonderland of maybe two inches. But the temperature is just high enough that it's melting, dripping from our porch roof.

We rural kids grew up anticipating snow days with deep excitement. In fact, the idea of sleeping in was so enticing, we couldn't do it when the call came that it was, indeed a snow day; the possibilities of sudden leisure palpable.

Even though e-learning and homeschooling during this pandemic have elements of snow days, I imagine a lot of kids are enjoying this one all the same—be it .5 or 8 inches worth of winter fun. And for the more mature former kids, even though it feels in some ways like another day of pandemic pandering, the snow is pretty, and a nap might be in order.