Snow Day

When I was a kid, I loved snow days. Waking up in the morning to a blanket of snow sent us running to the radio to find out if school was in session that day. What a delight it was if we found out school was cancelled! A snow day meant an unexpected holiday from the normal activities in life. Okay, I admit, as a child I certainly didn’t realize the amount of extra work it created for my parents just to do the normal things that needed done on the family farm. For me and my brothers and sisters, it was a holiday from school and a day to romp and play in the big white world outside. Sledding, building snowmen, snowball fights, snow angels, etc. were just part of the fun. Life pretty much ground to a halt.

As a young adult I realized all that snow meant shoveling driveways and walks in freezing temperatures, and suddenly snow days weren’t quite as much fun. And most adults still had to drive to work in all that miserable stuff. But as a teacher there was still a certain amount of excitement to waking up to an early morning phone call and hearing the words, “no school today” by the caller on the other end of the line. Snow days meant an unexpected vacation day. They were totally “free” days. They were different from the scheduled days off – those days were filled with appointments and all the things I couldn’t do during my regular work hours. Snow days were different – there was a whole day to do just what I wanted (once the driveway and walks were shoveled, of course). I could curl up and read a good book, bake cookies, play a game, put a puzzle together, or get out that long awaited craft project without worrying about the work that wasn’t getting done!

Oh, how things have changed. Now my day starts at 5 in the morning as I get up, listen to the weather forecast and check what the other schools in Lancaster County are doing. Should we have a delay or should we just cancel school for the day? And then once the decision is made, I’m the one making a myriad of phone calls – to the staff and then to the radio and TV stations. And all this by six o’clock in the morning! As I stand inside my warm house and gaze out the window at the winter wonderland, I realize that modern technology has kept us from having the traditional “snow day” when everything grinds to a screeching halt. Computers now allow us to connect to the office from our homes and life goes on. As I logged on to my computer yesterday morning just to check if there was anything urgent that needed my attention, I was somewhat amused to see a message from the IT department that said they were working from home. Pretty amazing, I thought. My son-in-law, who works for the phone company, got 2 minutes away from home in his vehicle, and was slipping and sliding so much he turned around, came home, and spent the day doing his job from the comfort of his living room in front of his computer! I’m sure these are not isolated cases. In fact, here I sit at home “working” all due to the wonders of modern technology.

However, I can’t help but wonder if this ability to keep on going is all for the best. If a snowstorm can’t make us stop, slow down, and take the day off to rest and play, what does? We live in a work driven society. Our lives are constantly on the move. Do we ever take a “snow day”? Is there such a thing as a holiday? What about the Sabbath? While I’m not suggesting that things come to a grinding halt every time it snows, perhaps we should count this snow as God’s quiet nudge to take a moment to rest and reflect on His Goodness. At least for a minute before we check our email and answer the phone.

-Lorraine Brandt, Wonder Club School

ps- the picture above is not from Lancaster (its from Newfoundland)