Snow Days

As a teacher, I always look forward to the occasional snow day. It's nice to not know you have a day off and then "BAM" off you are. We had been waiting for snow days for a couple of weeks...mainly because the weatherman kept saying we would get a huge snow storm and then it would vanish (which made me seriously think about a career in weather...after all, you can be totally wrong and still get paid).

Sunday night it flurried here. I went to bed as usual, got up as usual and showered as usual. I got out of the shower, turned on the TV and saw we were closed. I couldn't believe it...we had hardly anything. I got dressed and watched the news and listened to them talk about how much snow was on the way, but they also said that there was a possibility of the storm vanishing as previous storms had. I decided that I would go to the grocery early Monday morning (since I had a totally random snow day) to beat any crowds that would rush there after work (let me clarify...I wasn't panic grocery shopping. I was simply grocery shopping. There is a difference. I wasn't going there to horde milk and water and bread. I just needed to make the trip).

Monday night I went to bed as usual. Woke up Tuesday morning and turned the news on and saw I was closed. I went back to bed. Hubby was off, too, because his boss said it was too bad to come into work.

That day I watched the snow turn into freezing rain. And we got freezing rain for almost twelve hours. And then it switched back to snow. We were stuck in this storm that stretched from Maine all the way to Texas. I had never seen anything quite like it.

I knew Tuesday night that I didn't have school on Wednesday. I also knew Wednesday night that I didn't have school on Thursday. This was becoming a pattern.

I know what you all are thinking: must be nice to get random days off. I can't lie. It is nice...when you have one or two. But, ladies and gentlemen, I have been off all week. That makes it difficult when you have students who have projects due, papers due and tests to take. I have answered a ton of student emails in the last few days. I am actually surprised that they took the time to worry about it, but it seems the week to be surprised.

I can't remember if we have ever had a straight week of snow days before. I'm sure that if it wasn't snow and ice we would have been back by Thursday, but we got the ice. And it was nasty.

I am hoping we'll go back on Monday because as much as my job drives me crazy from day to day, it is also nice to have a routine and a purpose. Being stuck inside for three days was enough to push me to the edge...luckily, I got out of the house for a while last night and I plan to venture out today. I think seeing people...real, live people will do me good.

What about you guys...anyone else get hit with this massive storm? If so, how long were you stuck?