Around here, schools are cancelled just on the forecast of snow! This puts a lot of pressure on our favorite meteorologist at a local TV station. The forecast makes for great retail sales if you own a grocery store. Everyone rushes out and stocks up on bread and milk. The shelves are emptied within a few hours of the forecast. We need to have enough supplies in case we're holed up at home for a few hours.
Some of us still rent movies the old-fashioned way. We find that the selection is pretty limited if we wait until the evening news is finished.
If the opening line on the broadcast includes the words "snow forecast for tomorrow" then the traffic jams begin as people rush out to gather supplies. After all, schools and work will be closed for at least one day.
Today's forecast was accurate. The snow is falling with several inches already on the ground. All the schools and some businesses are closed. It is quiet.
This is a day that the earth stands still.
We know that our Northern friends suffer for weeks and months through snow. They know how to go on with their daily lives. Down here, we turn a snow day into a holiday!
How do we manage to make a holiday out of a snow day?
For decades, our families and friends have pretended to not know how to drive in the snow. This makes it dangerous to be on the roads. We go too fast, we slam on brakes, the cars slide into the ditches and into each other.
The highway patrol advises that "conditions are dangerous" for driving, so we're told to stay home and off the roads.
Pollution is reduced this day, so our snow stays white and clean until everyone is ordered back to school and work. We can walk down our roads and the only tracks will be from footsteps.
Find a good hill and you can still sled. We have time to go outside and play in the snow-- to build a snowman, have snowball fights and be joyful!
The pristine view out my window is new, clean and fresh. Yesterday is hidden under a blanket of white snow.
This is no ordinary snow day. On this snowy day, all the school children can watch an historic presidential inauguration. They will remember this snow day for the rest of their lives.
Photos and story by Freda Cameron