It's a "Snow Day"

Today is Monday, December 27 and what will surely be labelled "The Blizzard of 2010" is upon us. The snow started to fall late last night but the high winds and heavy snowfall didn't ramp up until after midnight (I guess - I was asleep by then) and by daybreak there were several inches of snow already on the ground and it was still falling and blowing at a pretty respectable rate; it still is as I write, a little after noon. All in all the conditions have created a personal "snow day" for me.

On a normal Monday I would spend most of the day driving a van to transport veterans to the VA Facility at Togus and return them home. It's a volunteer activity which I enjoy and I had two riders scheduled for today, so I was a little disappointed that the weather forced cancellation of the trip, but at least the decision to cancel was a no-brainer. I hate to call off a trip when conditions are "marginal" but today is anything but that so there was absolutely no doubt about the call.

I have not always appreciated "snow days". When my sons were still in school, storm cancellations necessitated making provisions for them to be supervised for the day. When they were very little that meant they went to their day-care provider for the whole day instead of just after school, which of course increased the expense, but I was still very grateful that the facility was there for us. Later on, when they were "too big" for day care but still too young to leave unsupervised I usually just took the day off from work to stay home with them, and we did some pretty fun things so it certainly wasn't all bad. Still a missed day of work had "costs" of its own so it wasn't something I hoped for when a winter storm was in the forecast.

I have to say that I am enjoying my "snow day" today, though. First, the timing of the storm made it certain last night that I would not be driving today, so I could "sleep in" knowing that I didn't have to be in Round Pond by 8:00am. So I got up at a very leisurely time, made a pot of coffee and just relaxed for a while - the morning paper had not come (it showed up at about 9:30, much to my surprise as the travelling looks really treacherous) so I spent a while just "puttering". Then I fired up the snow-blower to clear the driveway (I think I'll have to do it again, though) and retrieve the paper. Now, with the hard work done, I can just stay in and relax for the rest of the day and not feel the least bit guilty about it! It's like having a day off from my "day off", if you know what I mean - no plans, no schedule, no "to-do" list to work through. It's a "snow day"!

Winter storms can be dangerous and not everybody can just stay home and stay warm and safe until they pass. But for this storm on this day I am in a unique position to take advantage of the weather as an excuse to stay home and do absolutely nothing for a while, all the while knowing that I am doing the "responsible" thing by staying off the roads and out of harm's way. What could be better than that?!