Sandy Lane, a local accountant and mom to three boys, wrote a guest blog for momaha.
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Last week’s snow day was a big surprise.
Telling the boys that school was cancelled was like handing them an unexpected Christmas gift. The unexpected nature of this little gift from nature put a whole new spin on the day.
I checked the weather when I awoke.
The wind was howling outside, so I knew something was brewing.
“Schools Closed” was an Omaha.com headline.
I first woke Ben and shared this development. He shot up and asked “really?” and then shouted a jubilant “yes!” He later said he didn’t remember me coming in. I woke my other son Grant and told him the same news. They both nestled back into their comfy slumber. I sat in front of my computer with jammies and slippers intact.
At 9:15 a.m., Grant (photographed above) called my phone. I wondered why he was calling me when he was only down the hall. I then heard his panicked voice wake Ben up. Shortly after he woke, again, he forgot my early morning snow day news. Poor guy. He saw the time and thought he was late for school.
I reassured him that it was OK, and that he hadn’t missed school. It was a Snow Day.
He screamed with joy. He was so happy you would’ve thought he won the lottery.
We listened to the “Rock of Ages” soundtrack on Ben’s laptop while the boys enjoyed their morning of freedom together. This snow day was different. It was as if there was an unexpected elation in the air. I think it was attributed to the element of surprise. They had not expected a snow day when they fell asleep, but woke to a cold wintery day.
I can’t think of another snow day where the kids weren’t asking me over and over again the night before, “Mom, do you think they’ll cancel school?” They would pray for it and many times count on it. This time, the expectation escaped all of us. The result was the gift of a free day — not an expectation.
Grant said it best: “It was so random, Mom.”
Yep. Awe and amazement. Sometimes the unexpected isn’t a bad thing.
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