Snowy Day

The truth is, I’m pretty pissed off about this snow situation. Yeah, I know, I know. I’m all about embracing winter. I have that page on my blog with winter fun, and I just wrote an article on trying out new winter sports for KidsOutAndAbout.com. I’m just irritated about the timing.

We had, long ago, planned a day of hooky for all of us. Our school has an inordinate number of half days, and by “half” they mean dismissed at 10:45 am. So when we noticed that there was a half day set for the middle of January, Cute W and I penciled in a ski day. He gave notice for a vacation day, we pondered what new place to try. With all of our holiday travels, soccer games almost every Saturday, and the religious education program Cute W’s teaching most Sundays, we haven’t hit the slopes once yet.

So the ski day was planned for yesterday. You remember yesterday, right? There had been several days of warm weather? There was such a thaw that puddles stood in everyone’s yard, making the air smell of mud and springtime? And, by the end of the day, the only snow left was the exhaust-stained heaps on the edges of parking lots? Yeah.

As early as last week, Cute W started to sound the alarm. It began with, If conditions aren’t good, should we even go? Then progressed to, If conditions get worse, I don’t think we should go. And, finally, It’s just too expensive to ski in conditions this bad. Fine. It was true.

So this morning, when everyone had school and work obligations and no plans to miss any of them, what the hell was going on outside?

And here’s the thing: Cute W and I are not spontaneous people. When we try to be, it’s a disaster. Like the time we drove from Iowa to Chicago for a Cubs game and realized that someone read the schedule in the newspaper wrong. We are just tragically conservative. I still regret that we spent the year after college temping instead of traveling the world. We were way too grown-up for our own good. And yet, that’s just how we are. No one was in any way emotionally prepared to have an actually spontaneous day of playing hooky. Driving would have been awful. We have afternoon activities that we couldn’t reschedule. So the girls  trooped off to school and Cute W and I headed outside to shovel.

So, yeah. I’m bitter.

I hope you’re enjoying the snow more than I am.