Snow day!

I remember being younger and staring out the window in silent desperation, willing snow to fall so we'd have a snow day and miss school. I remember my parents fussing about how inconvenient snow would be, and worried that we WOULD get a snow day, and I remember the stodgy, annoying weathermen who would gush about how lucky we'd be if the snow did miss us and wouldn't that be a relief? I also remember thinking fervently, please don't let me grow up to be someone who complains about snow days. I was incredibly afraid of being transformed when I crossed that threshold into adulthood; I would morph into a grown-up, complaining about how inconvenient snow days are. Thankfully, I did not turn into that kind of person. When I heard yesterday that snow was forecast, my heart did all kinds of silly leaps. Last night, instead of preparing a syllabus I needed to have ready for Wednesday, I put it off, thinking to myself how great it'd be to NOT go in, and to get an extra day. I was like a kid who puts off a book report in the hopes that a snow day will buy her an extra day to work on it. By noon yesterday, I had planned all sorts of snow-day activities in my head, and yesterday, even though not a single flake was in sight yet, I went on some kind of crazy baking/cooking binge and made soup for dinner, a fresh loaf of oven-baked bread, chocolate chip cookies, and quinoa pudding. In other words, I went nuts. And this morning, when I woke up at 6:00 and blearily peeked out my bedroom window, I saw this: A real, live snow day. So today we're all home, and I have no doubt we'll spend it sitting around the fire, watching the inauguration, and basking in this sudden happy surprise--this gift from Mother Nature. A snow day, lots of hot cocoa, a fire in the fireplace, and the inauguration of Barack Obama as President...can it get any better than that?