Does a Snow Day Last Forever?

Most people are excited when they have a snow day.  

Parents don't have to shuffle their kids off to school, which relieves them of one responsibility, and kids get to sleep in.  After they wake up, they get to play in the snow.

All! 
     Day! 
           Long!!!

I mean, seriously.  It's a win-win situation.  Everyone loves a snow day!!!

Except for my daughter and I.

Don't get me wrong... we both love snow.  We adore it.  Playing in gigantic, soft hills of white fluff is truly exhilarating.

The problem, however, is that my daughter loves school, too... And she only goes 2 days a week.  A snow day on any one of those days means having to wait even longer to see her friends and teacher.

A snow day is not a happy-making event.

She awoke bright and happy, ready to greet the day.

"Mommy, school time!"  She beamed.

Oh, dear...

""Sweetie..." I began. "There's something we need to talk about."

Now, maybe it's just me, but this is awfully reminiscent of a Your-Dog-Just-Died speech.  That's how difficult it was to tell her a snow day had cancelled school.  I explained what a snow day is and why it happens.

Unfortunately, I left out one important part that just never occurred to me was worth mentioning:

"Will it be closed forever?"  She asked, her wide eyes brimming with tears.

I assured her it would, indeed, reopen when the roads were safe again, and her chest heaved with a great sigh of relief.  She took the nice warm throw from the couch, and bundled herself up.

Once she was settled, I went out to survey just how much shoveling needed to be done.

The snow was thick enough that it began to get in the way of simple things like, say, opening my door.

Indeed, it was about six inches thick on the driveway alone.

So...

I helped my husband shovel his way out of the driveway, then did what any other reasonable woman would do on a snow day.

Sometimes, teaching yourself about life in a new and strange environment means just stepping back and allowing yourself to relax and enjoy the moment.  Sure, I need to shovel the sidewalk, and sure, I need to get my work done.

But I also need to enjoy a Minnesota snow day in a way that only a transplant from the desert can.