Natural Order

Last week’s storm, which ultimately produced a record 24 inches of snow at Bradley International Airport, ended up as two snow days for me. There was so much snow piled high along the roads and loaded up on corners that it posed a risk for children who need to wait for the bus. The town spent time and resources on the second day of cleanup to remove some of that in order to make bus stops safer.

Today, after a three day weekend with the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday yesterday, I am home for another snow day, as we are getting a wintry mix (not to be confused with the meteorologist’s non-committal “mixed bag” that Jill used to make fun of—before she moved to the most beautiful climate in the US, from where she and her husband Jon now text me weather and temperature updates, sometimes photos, especially while I’m snowbound). My weatherman predicted exactly what is happening today: a few inches of snow followed by sleet and freezing rain as the temperature creeps up. Because I trust him and his forecast, I planned for this extra day at home.


snow day breakfast

Rather than spend a day over the weekend cooking as I usually do, I stopped after buying the ingredients for the pot of chili I plan on making today. Instead of indulging in bacon and eggs for breakfast on Sunday, I ate oatmeal, and saved my perfect plate (and grown up orange juice) for today.

Lately, these last couple of weeks it seems, I’ve had more days off—due mostly to weather—than days at work. Of course we’ll be making these up in June, but it’s all good: we were scheduled to be out early since they took away our February vacation….Which frankly makes me wonder…

The Board of Ed took away our February vacation, and I can’t help but think that Mother Nature seems to be taking it back for us one or two days at a time.