SNOW DAY

Ah, the glorious snow day...

After the threat of a two-hour school delay, we went to bed knowing we'd be able to sleep in a bit.

So why did my daughter's high school feel the need to call BEFORE we normally would have awakened, to let us know school was cancelled for the day??!  At least give us the two-hour courtesy nap!  

Once disturbed, sleep is over for the night for me, so I thought I'd document the quiet stillness that blankets central North Carolina on a rare snow day.  This is one of those places where an inch may as well be a foot, because even a snippet of snow can cause havoc on country roads.  No school bus service = no school.  There's simply not enough equipment to clear the roads, and there never will be.  It doesn't snow enough here to justify the cost of trucks and plows, so we shut down for a day or so and enjoy ourselves-- complete with bread, milk and eggs.  I guess everyone stocks up for French toast when we hear snow is coming.

Northerners love to laugh at this proposition, but it doesn't take them long to warm to the wonder of a Carolina snow day.  Businesses shut down so parents can tend to the children.  Neighbors set the soup pots boiling and invite chilly children in for cocoa.   People who normally wave through the windshield on their way to work have a chance to chat with folks who live down the block but don't visit very much.   Rusty toboggans rumble down rolling hills, the peals of children's laughter ringing through the frigid air.    It's not uncommon to see a trash can lid or even a shower curtain substitute for a sled, since Southerners are known for two things: ingenuity, and lack of snow gear.

The best part of a snow day is the free and easy family time.  The worst part is knowing that the kids will have to use part of Spring break to make up for the lost school time.  

But we don't think about that on a snow day.  We bundle up and build snowmen.  And we turn off the phone ringers, in case there's another too-early wake up call tomorrow.