Snow Day

Why do we love a snow day?

It's a gift of time, one of the few forms of natural wealth possessed in equal measure by everyone.

It's a surprise, removing for a few hours the predictability of life.

It's permission to forget about deadlines, sleep in, skip showering, put half and half in your coffee because you're out of skim milk and it's not safe to drive to the store.

It's a no-fault waiver of responsibility, removing for a few hours the burden of life.

It could be the postponement of a quiz or a test. If it falls on a Friday, it's a grand 3-day reprieve.

It's rare enough to be precious.

It's usually quieter than other days, inwardly and outwardly. After the snow plow goes by, the sounds of the world are cushioned.

Here's my favorite thing about a snow day: if you go on with your usual business (driving to work, showing up at the office, visiting the post office, making phone calls) on a snow day, you feel a certain mastery. You share that feeling of mastery with the other people who also showed up. You are quietly victorious. You have overcome. You have been prepared for the weather. You have put duty first. What a great set of moral green stamps to collect, and how sweet it is to cash them in at some future opportunity.

Here's to snow days! Long may they descend on us from the compassionate hand of Mother Earth.