Snow Day!(?)

Tomorrow the enduring ritual of Will We Have A Snow Day? begins anew. There's snow in the forecast — and lots of it! — but it's a question of timing. Snowfall is expected to start just as the school day is beginning, and to become intense enough to make it difficult to get everyone home safe in the early afternoon. So it's a good bet school will be closing early — but will they consider it worth the effort to get everyone in for just a few hours?

I don't remember the school district I grew up in as being quite so cautious about inclement weather. Back in the day, the schools would close because there was snow on the ground — never because of the threat of snow. And it took more, much more than the pale dusting that has become enough to throw school districts into a panic. (What a glorious time to be an Elementary School student!)

I lived for many years in a school district that began with a "V," so you can imagine how long I had to wait for the list of school closings to be read before I could hear the news I was anxious for. And you could only hear it on the radio. And if you missed the list, or your school wasn't mentioned, you'd have an tortuous fifteen or twenty minute wait — perhaps longer! — to hear it again. But I still remember the excitement of waiting and hoping, and the singular pleasure of the wish granted.

My son will share that excitement, but without quite so many anxious moments — these days, you can get that information almost immediately. (That, and our school district is just about in the middle of the alphabet.)