I think we have had four consecutive Thursdays called snow days in our local schools. When the schools close, we close the office for the safety of our staff and to give our snowplow team a chance to catch up. The slow transition in how I view snow days since my childhood is kind of startling to me right now as I look back over the years. Back in the 1970s, we listened to the local radio station or broadcast station, waiting to hear if our school had decided to cancel school. It seems like it took forever to go through the alphabet to get to the S’s. When my school district was announced, I would shriek for joy. My plans for the day immediately changed from school work to outdoor playing. I know my mother, who worked full time, likely dreaded snow days, but I loved them. After going back to bed to sleep a little longer, we would find all the necessary clothes for an outside day in the snow. Even then, my forgetfulness, ADHD, would cause a bit of a struggle to find matching mittens and the search for last year’s snow boots. Snowball fights, building snow forts, finding a hill tall enough to slide down on our twin-blade Radio Flyer toboggan, and ending with some snow ice cream made great memories for my childhood. Does anybody remember wearing bread wrappers over your shoes for snow protection?

As a parent, I would dread finding all the winter gear for the kids and locating the sled from the year before on the other side of snow days. I can clearly remember my envy of my peers who thought ahead enough to buy their kids new boots and snow clothes before the season hit. When we lived in Iowa, I regularly bought snowsuits and boots because you knew you would definitely need them for the following year. It’s not as clear in Kansas because the winters are not as cold as further North.

Even though I changed my perspective about snow days, here is one thing I know to be true. It’s going to snow, and it may stay around a while, and I can dread it, shake my fist at it and grumble about my plans getting changed. At the end of the day, the snow is still here, and I can look out the window and enjoy the beauty or be mad because it is here. The only difference is my attitude. So today, I’m sitting in my bedroom office, looking out the window and appreciating the beauty.