S'now school

Things sure have changed from when I was a kid growing up in New England in the winter. Naturally, when you're a kid, you are very hopeful that the impending snowstorm will be enough to have to cancel school for the day. You don't care that the snow day has just added another day in June because you are living in the here and now moment. It's snowing, after all. Green grass and swimming are the farthest things from your mind.

And do you know the torture we kids endured just waiting to find out? There was no website to be able to check on your school's web page. Nobody had come up with the common sense to run the list of school closings at the bottom of the television screen, either. No, we had to listen to the local radio station. And the longer the list was, the less cheerful were the DJs. They so loathed that part of their job, and I'll bet now they are so happy their self-imposed humor doesn't have to be sacrificed or compromised for the reading of the school closings list not once, but numerous times throughout the morning.

So on those days where closing the schools would be questionable, we listened to the radio. We cursed the commercials and the DJ banter, waiting for them to get onto the list. And God help them if they skipped our town. We were sure they were mistaken, and would wait to listen again, hopeful to hear our town. We lived in a town that started with the letter M, so we had a long wait, too.

But if our town was announced, we'd silently thank God for the day off. Usually, by 10 AM, the sky was blue and the sun was out, as were we, sledding and playing in the snow. Because in those days, nobody had thought of the logical solution to delay the school opening, either. No, a snow day was a an all-day snow day and we got the whole day off.

Today, there are plenty of resources to check for school closings. I also have to wonder that if we had known about the secret steps kids had to take to ensure a full snow day how many more days we might have enjoyed ourselves. Apparently, if enough kids participate, they will succeed!

As I was putting the boys to bed last night, I told them to cross their fingers that there would be school tomorrow.

"Oh!" said Chris. "I need a spoon!"

You see, all they have to do is sleep with their pajamas on inside out with a spoon under their pillows. And before they go to bed, they should flush an ice cube down the toilet. That's it. Presto magic. If the majority of the kids do these things, they'll get their snow day. Just don't confuse the steps. An ice cube under the pillow will melt, of course, and flushing a spoon down a toilet would be, well, disastrous.

If you think about it, it gives a whole new meaning to spooning.

Now I'm the parent and while my boys react exactly as I expect them to when they learn they have no school, I silently curse the spoons. But come June, when they are whining about the extra day added to their year, I give thanks while I sit outside, sipping my iced tea and stirring it with a spoon.