#921 Snow days

Neil Pasricha

Sledding into a world of awesome

Have you ever gone to school on a snow day? Tell me that’s not the worst.

Everyone else is outside having snowball fights and going sledding, and you’re stuck inside playing Battleship with the teacher because your parents couldn’t find a babysitter. The probability of you learning anything is zero and the school just transforms into a maze of barren, lonely hallways. It’s kind of a got a horror movie feel to it too, especially if you walk by a room full of kindergarteners and they all look up at you at the same time and slowly smile.

No, when it snows, you have to figure out a way to stay home and just have the time of your life. So let’s break it down a bit. Let’s talk about the three main types of snow days:

3. The Pre-planned Snow Day. Your town got hit by an ice storm and four-feet of heavy, packing snow. It’s going to take a couple of days to dig out, so somebody makes the call to cancel school in advance. This is definitely a good snow day, but it really zaps out all the anticipation. Worst of the three types.

2. The It’s Gonna Happen, I Can Just Feel It Snow Day. This is where the snow is hitting hard and heavy the night before. There are reports of black ice and cars in the ditch. People hunker down by the window with some hot cocoa and turn the radio on for weather updates. This is what’s known as a high-probability snow day. You’re almost positive it’s going to happen so you go to sleep excited about getting up the next morning. And really, the night before is almost as fun as the snow day itself, because you’re already planning the day in your head, putting off your homework, and calling your friends. Of course, once in a while the sun is mysteriously shining the next morning and the roads are clear, but this is very rare.

Nothing like a snow day to help those primal warrior-like defense mechanisms kick in for some fort-building

1. The Surprise Snow Day. Now this is it: The Mighty King Of The Snow Days. This is where nobody suspects a thing the night before. Just have some dinner, do some homework, brush some teeth. Yup, just a typical night around here. But then suddenly the next morning there’s a knock on the door and it’s your mom or dad telling you that … guess what, it’s a snow day! Now that’s a buzzy kid high right there. Homework already out of the way, no risk of missing anything important at school, just an all-out, lay back and relax full-on chill session with your friends. And the day really can’t disappoint, because there were no expectations to begin with! You wanna sit in the basement and play Contra all afternoon? No problem. Build a snowman and shovel the driveways for cash? Sign me up. Construct elaborate forts in preparation a massive snowball fight? I’m in. Just be a kid and love it lots.

And so, as its starts to get a bit chilly, let’s all cross our fingers and hope for a good snow day season. Let’s hope this isn’t one of those winters where we put up a goose egg on the snow day category. No, I say let’s break the record. Let’s go for four or five of the suckers. Hey, maybe six even. Let’s get El Nino in on it. Because ladies and gentlemen, say it with me, if there’s one thing we all know, it’s gotta be that a snow day … is a good day.

AWESOME!

Photos from: here, here, here, and here

20 thoughts to “#921 Snow days”

  1. I love snow days! When I was 13 my friend, Carrie, and I planned for it in advance. I went home with her for a sleepover. It snowed a lot for Oklahoma (a foot or so). We were out of school for two days. She lived in the country, and we slid down the hill by her house all day on the first day. The second day her cousin pulled us on a makeshift sled behind his horse. Even as a grown-up I can appreciate them. If the streets are really bad I don’t have to go to work. I get to stay home with my husband and girls. It’s a bonus day with my family.

  2. I did some growing up in Lynn Valley/Canyon, between Seymour and Grouse mountains, North Vancouver…in a Forest School, where there was lots of wild, and a whole lot of snow in the winter, and I recall sitting by the radio…PLEADING with the announcer to answer our prayers…and when he did, we played every which way we could, pond skating, sliding, building snow men and forts, having snowball fights, playing pie-tag…we made the most magic out of those days to last into the darkness of those “Snow Day” nights:)
    Winter would not be the same without snow days…I LOVE them~.~

  3. Sigh…. if only in Aus. It’s just starting to hot up around here, bringing with it midgies and mozzies and flies- bring back winter! But at least I can start going to the beach :)

  5. Last year there was almost no snow at all up here. No snowdays. This year I’m hoping for lots!

  7. Sigh…. if only in Aus. It’s just starting to hot up around here, bringing with it midgies and mozzies and flies- bring back winter! But at least I can start going to the beach :)

    1. Um, EXCUSE ME? I thought the generic “Thank you for this information”-type spam was bad enough from everywhere, but stealing real people’s actual comments? Excuse my french but FUCK. OFF.

  9. Wow, you know how to invoke happy memories! I’ve done everything you’ve got pictured in your post…and pond skating! I still love snow days – they’re almost (but not quite) as awesome as when I was a kid. But you left out the other good part, which is coming inside after you’re half frozen and sitting at the kitchen table with your hot chocolate and marshmallows, listening to your snow suit go thwump, thwump in the dryer and enjoying that strange brightness from the windows as it continues to snow!!

  10. I’ve never had the happy experience of a snow day! I almost did last year – it snowed a bit, and we were SURE that we’d get the day off, and then nope. No day off… *tears of sadness*

  11. It seems so unfair that those in warmer climes have never had the experience of snow days. Some of my most fun days of childhood were snow days! Even as an adult I had the awesome experience of snowdays when I was a teacher. They were terrific, as long as I knew they were announced. I lived 25 mi. from my school, about a 35 minute trip in good weather. One week, I somehow missed forecasts predicting heavy snow. I head off in the dark one AM that week only to find icy roads. As I continued my trip, the snow began to fall heavy and fast and had already mounted in the next town. By the time I reached school I heard the radio announcement that school was canceled…LOL! I still love snow days! When the forecast predicts a heavy fall I can barely sleep for my excitement! In fact, I’m so fascinated by snow that my dream trip is to Tromso, Norway where I could experience the winter night in all of that beautiful snow and ice!

  12. I absolutely love snow days!! Especially because now I am in college and we rarely get snow days, so when we do it is GLORIOUS! I think my favorite type of snow day is the surprise one. Even though I would be soo mad if school had not cancelled the night before because I would still have to get up in the morning to check if I had school. Unless my mom did it for me and would yell up the stairs…”Diana, no school today!” that was the best feeling ever! Lets hope for snow days this winter!!

  13. Pingback: Happy SNOW Day! « Miss Argue's Class

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