When I was little, I loved snow days.
I would squeal with delight when I would wake and see the ground covered with a blanket of fresh white snow. We would rush to get our rickety Radio Flyer sled from the garage, and we’d take turns pushing each other down the steep driveway in front of our house. We’d make snow angels until our little butts were cold and numb. And then we’d tromp inside for steaming mugs of hot cocoa with melted mini marshmallows.
But, somewhere along the line, something changed. All the magic and excitement I saw in snow days gave way to annoyance, frustration and stress.
As an adult, I can’t stand snow days.
Because, now, when I think of snow, I think of things like school closures. I envision being stuck in gridlock traffic with a bunch of Oregonian yahoos that don’t know how to drive in the snow or ice. (And yes, I fully admit I’m one of those yahoos that doesn’t know how to drive in the stuff, either.) I have fears of being trapped inside the house for days with two stir-crazy kidlets. What if we run out of fruit or milk? Or, worse yet, beer??
These are the reasons I don’t like snow. So when I woke up this morning to fresh powder, I was already stressed out.
The traffic cams showed delays and accidents. Almost all of the schools in the city were shut down. The kids’ preschool was scheduled for a delayed opening. And today was the day I was supposed to go into our office downtown.
The snowpocalypse had arrived. All 2 inches of it.
My kids, however, did not see the urgency in the situation.
While I rushed around the house like a chicken with my head cut off, they peppered me with questions about making snowmen. While I nagged them to eat their breakfast, they stared out the windows, looking longingly out at the snow. While I watched the news for weather updates, they danced around the living room ecstatically yelling, “It’s snowing! It’s snowing!”
I was about ready to blow a gasket. I had meetings to go to today. I had an hour drive into the office… with yahoos on the road! On a normal day, I would have been in the office already by now. Did they not understand that the snowpocalypse was here?
And then I realized. They did not. They saw only the beautiful white fluffy stuff on the ground, just begging to be frolicked in.
I looked at the clock. I looked back into the eyes of my kids. And I realized my son, just turned two, had only seen snow a handful of times. He’d never played in it.
So we detoured. I changed out of my business suit, pulled on my boots, and we went outside.
…where we made snowballs…
… and Chip got to play in the snow for the first time, ever…
We attempted to make a giant snowman. We realized that was too much work, and made a miniature, 2 foot snowbaby instead.
By the time we came back inside, changed into dry clothes, and got the kids dropped off at preschool, the snow was already melting. But as I drove into work, I felt a little differently about the snow. For the first time in a long time, I had seen it briefly as I did when I was little.
It had been beautiful. New. And exciting. I had seen snow through my kids’ eyes.
When I finally arrived in the office, I was obscenely late. But I had built a snowman. And the earth didn’t end because of it.
And it’s a good thing we built it when we did. Because when we got home this afternoon, everything had melted. Everything, that is, except this:
A tiny, pitiful snowbaby looking all droopy and sad. It was the only evidence that remained of the snowpocalypse. It was the only evidence of the best morning I’ve had in a long time.
Your kiddies are adorable – the snowbaby, too.
We need to do this stuff more. Work gets in the way too much.
That final picture made me shoot water out of my nose!
I grew up in snow and when I read my friends facebook updates about the blizzards they’ve been getting, I don’t miss however. However, it does make me sad that Max won’t grow up with the snow days, sledding and igloo building that I loved so dearly during childhood.
He will however, grow up on the ocean. I think it’s a fair trade!
Thanks for showing a new perspective. We all need to look at the world from a kid’s point of view from time to time.
I think I love snow now more than I did before because watching and playing with my son is a hilarious time. Mostly because I am laughing at him watching him trying to maneuver around in clunky snow gear.
Time well spent for sure. The pics of your kids are soo cute. I can’t believe it all melted! So nice you didn’t miss out on what was obviously a simple, yet very special time with your kids.
Snow doesn’t stick around here for very long… so you gotta build those suckers before the moment is lost. It was a good lesson learned.
You did the right thing! Work be damned! Snow is like Christmas – only magical for so long. Gotta live it up.
Especially around here, right? I still can’t believe what a hoopla it was about the whole non-existent snowpocalypse. Welcome back to Oregon… the home of the snow wusses.
I COMPLETELY forgot about those old wooden with metal skates type sleds! They were so heavy and so dangerous!
I wish I could remember when the plastic ones came into vogue, but I do have more memories with the plastic ones over the wooden/metal ones.
I love how your snowman is doing a side stretch at the end.
I know! Those old radio flyers were so rickety. And they never steered right, IMO. I remember piling 2 or 3 kids on top of them, and then careening down the hill. Seriously, it’s a wonder we made it through childhood in one piece.
That picture of the droopy snowman made us laugh out loud here.
Kids make everything special.
My daughter says the snowman is doing yoga. It’s sad that little snowbaby is more flexible than I am.
Perfect. I am so happy that you had that opportunity with your children. so often we rush around and then that is when we lay awake at night with our mommy guilt in full force.
I know your children loved it and will always have the pictures to remember it by.
This made me tear up. After having laughed about the possibility of running out of beer (oh, the horror!). But you hit on something that I honestly try and remember every day. That life is what’s happening right now, while we are doing other things, rushing from here to there, dropping off and picking up, grocery shopping, texting. So taking a small amount of time, like you did, to see the day through the eyes of your kidlets, gave you a gift as well as them.
I love this!
Sometimes we have to remember to stop and breathe and enjoy things a little more, don’t we?
Oh how do i love this post! You’re right, about all of it. We see snow as such a nuisance, and a cols one at that. But our kids? See magic. And droopy snowmen! 🙂 You did good, Mama! Very good, indeed! XO
Thanks for the reminder to live in the moment. I bet your kids will remember making a snowman with you for a long time.
I’m pretty sure that anyone with any sense would run from hiring me for any sort of job. I’m too busy running off to build a snow man or chase a butterfly or something. FFFlllaky! But, as flaky as it is, I think slowing down and doing stuff like this makes us more thankful.
Glad you were able to enjoy the white stuff! I know it’ll be a special memory for those cuties of yours!
Love those cute little faces!! You did good Mom, because it is so hard sometimes to turn it around. Even when you know you should. You did really good.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a snowman on beautiful green grass. That is hilarious! I’m glad you got the chance to spend the day with your kids and just let everything else go.
Imagine in Texas where school was cancelled for FIVE days and I think the total accumulation was about 1/4″ for us. Wow!
Nice snowman.
I’m not a fan of snow days either. I hate driving and shoveling it.
This is my first visit to your blog. I saw your comment on someone else’s blog, and I thought anyone who refers to themselves as Booyah’s Mom is my kinda person. When I saw that Booyah was a cat, even better!
I’m sorry to hear the snowman didn’t make it.