One of my favorite memories of being a kid was waking up on a really snowy day and wondering if we’d have a snow day. My sister and I would huddle in my mom’s room, listening to WCCO AM radio as they listed off the school closings between weather updates and commercials. When there were long lists, it would take forever to get to the S’s (Saint Odelia’s) and I remember laying there in my mom’s bed, which was way more comfortable and warm and snuggly than my own bed because I think mom beds always are. I can still hear that voice in my memory, kind of crackly from the clock radio next to my parents’ bed.

Now snow days are announced coolly with automatic phone calls and text messages. I know, because I got three different districts’ calls tonight: St. Paul came in first with a phone call and a text, then a phone call from Roseville, and then a call from Forest Lake, because I’m still on their list too, followed by a message from Forest Lake. Don’t get me wrong, these calls or texts are joyous, but they don’t hold the same anticipation as listening to AM radio announcers read through lists of schools. They don’t give me the same rush as “a new announcement just came in…” and the wait to hear our school’s name. It’s a new world.

The worst part is that this is my spring break. My plan was to get the kids off to school and then head up to my classroom to work for a while. I need to plan and I need to finish up my grading from last trimester. I’ve already done a pretty good job with preparing for next trimester. I read the whole book I am going to teach starting next week – The House of the Scorpions – and I have a bunch of ideas rolling around in my head for that. That’s actually why I’m writing so late; I just finished up the book a bit ago and didn’t realize how late it was. I think this still counts as Sunday’s writing, though, because I haven’t gone to sleep yet and so that’s officially a day in my world.

I’m okay with just having a lazy day with my kids, though. I need to grade and I will. I need to plan and I will. But tomorrow will be good too. Happy snow day.