If there's one thing I will always remember fondly, it was having a snow day when I was a kid!
There was nothing quite like the feeling of waking up, realizing I had no school that day because of the snow, and going right back to sleep, knowing a day of fun was ahead!
I still remember watching the news on the night before, hoping to see my school listed on the bottom of the screen as one of the schools that was closed.
I would always hope that we would get a full snow day, instead of the dreaded "two hour delay."
As nice as it was to be able to still sleep in a little more when there was a delay, every kid just wanted the whole day off.
For me, that meant heading right down the street to play with my friends from the neighborhood.
They're still my best friends to this day!
Snow days meant building snow forts, having snowball fights, going sledding, and anything else we could think of!
We would play outside for a few hours, then come inside to warm up, eat some grilled cheese with tomato soup, play some Metroid on the NES, and then get right back outside and do it all over again!
I truly miss those days.
Those are easily some of my favorite childhood memories!
The keyword there, of course, is childhood.
As an adult, snow days mean something completely different.
It means shoveling snow, clearing off cars, and driving in the snow.
Driving to work in the snow, driving to the gym in the snow, driving to the grocery store in the snow, because for adults, life doesn't stop in a snowstorm, it just gets much more inconvenient!
But then you get the really, really big snowstorms.
The ones that stop everything in its tracks.
As I'm writing this, another one of these really, really big snowstorms is supposed to hit in a few days.
By the time I write my next blog post in a week, we shall see how big it really was.
For now, it's business as usual, which means people are rushing to grocery stores to stock up on food and water, everyone is going to the gas station to fill up their cars, and getting gas for home generators.
People are doing everything they can to prepare for possible widespread power outages.
It's being advised to keep your water faucets on a "slow drip" so the pipes won't freeze.
So the adults are doing everything necessary to prepare for the worst, while hoping for the best.
The kids, on the other hand?
NO SCHOOL!!
That's all they care about!
Kids aren't worried about the "big picture."
Kids live in the moment.
Adults are juggling work and home responsibilities, keeping track of bills, laundry, and every other possible future expense and outcome.
The farthest in the future a kid thinks about is "what's for dinner tonight?"
And that's how it should be.
Kids just want to have fun, and your childhood is when you're supposed to have fun.
That's why kids love snow days, because they are an extra day to have fun!
And with a snowstorm this big on the horizon, one that may very well stop a lot of things in their tracks until the snow can get cleared, some adults may end up with their very own snow day whether they like it or not!
But then again, a day where you can't do anything or go anywhere, forcing you to take your foot off the gas in this otherwise nonstop busy life, might be just what some people need.
Maybe, just maybe, for one day, adults can have fun like kids again.
You can help your child build the snow fort, have the snowball fights, and go sledding with them!
You can take a step back, take a deep breath, and be a kid again, if only for a day!
As I said in one of my previous blogs, adults need recess too!
So you can view the next big snowstorm as a "mandatory recess"!
We used to have snowball fights between two front yards when I was a kid.
We would build our "defenses" and then just start making snowballs and hurling them at each other across the street. It was magical.
I'd say like 1 out of every 10 snowballs may or may not have been an ice ball.
Ice balls hurt, a lot.
You were taking a risk every time you poked your head over that flimsy snow wall you had just built.
But that was the thrill of it, that's what made it FUN!
And nobody ever complained about the cold.
You didn’t feel it.
You didn’t care.
Your gloves were soaked, your boots were filled with snow, your nose was running, and you stayed outside anyway because going back in felt like wasting precious snow day time.
The only thing that could pull you inside was when your hands finally started to sting from the cold, and even then, you weren’t going in to quit.
You were going in to reload.
Dry gloves.
Dry socks.
Another grilled cheese.
Maybe a little more Metroid.
Then right back out the door like you were being called back into battle.
There was no schedule.
No clock.
No responsibilities.
Just snow, friends, and the entire day stretching out in front of you with absolutely nothing you had to do.
That’s something we don’t realize we lose as adults.
A day with no expectations.
A day with no timeline.
A day where the only plan is “let’s see what happens.”
As adults, we plan everything.
We schedule everything.
We optimize everything.
But a real snow day?
A real snow day throws all of that out the window.
You can’t go anywhere.
You can’t do errands.
You can’t run around being productive.
And for once, that’s not a problem.
It’s permission.
Permission to slow down.
Permission to stay in sweatpants all day.
Permission to look outside and say, “You know what? I’m not doing anything today.”
That’s exactly what snow days gave us as kids.
And that’s exactly what they can still give us now, if we let them.
You don’t have to be the adult who spends the entire snow day stressing about what isn’t getting done.
You can be the adult who looks outside, sees all that snow, and remembers what it felt like to be eight years old.
You can go outside just because.
You can build the snow fort.
You can start the snowball fight.
You can go sledding.
You can come back inside, warm up, make soup, sit on the couch, and just exist for a while without feeling guilty about it.
Because for one day, life is on pause.
And that’s a gift.
Snow days were never really about the snow.
They were about freedom.
And every once in a while, adults get handed that same freedom again, wrapped up in a winter storm warning and a driveway full of snow.
All you have to do is remember how to unwrap it.
And when the snow finally melts, and the roads clear, and life starts moving at full speed again, the emails will still be there.
The laundry will still be there.
The to-do list will still be there.
But that snow day?
That only happens once.
So if you’re lucky enough to get one, don’t spend it wishing you were somewhere else.
Spend it remembering where you used to be.
Out in the snow.
Laughing for no reason.
Doing absolutely nothing that mattered, and somehow having the best day ever.
Because growing up doesn’t mean you have to stop enjoying snow days.
It just means you have to choose to.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I'll see you next week!
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