Some people get the day off following a big snowfall fairly regularly, but it has been a rare occurrence for me. But I got one last week, and enjoyed the absolute heck out of it!

When I was a kid in northern Indiana, there was nothing better than a snow day. For those who live in warmer climes, a snow day was a day that saw enough snow that schools would be closed. Because snow was a regular occurrence, and because we were in the city (in an era where most kids walked to their neighborhood schools) school did not get cancelled very often. So the ritual early on a snowy morning, we kids would listen to the announcers on WOWO read off the list of school systems that would be closed for the day.

As an adult, however, I rarely got to experience the full-on snow day of my youth. This was mainly because I chose a career in which all the work on my desk would have to be finished whether I was snowed in or not, so a day or two out of the office on account of snow just led to other days of working late or on weekends to catch up. This led me to usually take work home with me the night before a big snow was expected.

Since I retired from the tyranny of “The Office” and have donned the bluer collar of driving for a living, we have had a couple of mild winters and the snow day has been something confined to the imagination. But then came last week, and I finally got my day!

It helped that my normal schedule includes weekends, a day that my company (and the large company we contract with) largely considers as “extra work” rather than “normal work”. This means that drivers on a regular schedule have to work weekend days every several weeks because things have been busy for the last year or more. So when the routine Friday evening text message chain went out to those working last weekend, I got a heads up that no work would be scheduled on Sunday. So while most others got a regular Sunday off, I got a snow day!

I have decided that a snow day now is still as great as it was when I was a kid. First, because it was called in advance, I got to sleep in. Then I got to have a leisurely morning of whatever I wanted to do. “Want to do” is a key concept, because a snow day should should be filled with “want to do” things and not “have to do” things. So I did my best.

One thing I had forgotten – you can go through a lot of dishes on a snow day because there is much cooking and baking done. In our case, the day included a pound of bacon a batch of the homemade waffles from the recipe my mother used to use. I have joked about my mother’s challenges in the kitchen, but that scratch waffle recipe was a hands-down winner that had Marianne and I luxuriating in a delicious late breakfast.

After that there were movies to watch and brownies to bake and a proper lazy day was had by all. However, all good things must come to an end, and a snow day often requires one member of the household (guess who) to do something about the accumulation of snow in the driveway.

My trusty Toro snowblower is something north of 30 years old, and is in dire need of some refurbishment. Aside from it being time to replace the rubber paddles again (those things that make the snow blower actually blow snow), other things like the electric start and the primer bulb are no longer working. But a shot of carburetor cleaner gives the thing enough of a combustable jolt that it will fire after a couple of pulls on the rope.

The 8-10 inches of snow in the driveway, even when very light, dry and powdery, were at the ragged edge of my Toro’s ability to blow the stuff. Fortunately, Marianne told me to not have a heart attack out there and so I didn’t. Because I always listen to my wife. An hour or so later, I had enough of the driveway clear to get a car out for the next day, and my one necessary job was done.

I recognize that there are others who are called out to work when snow gets bad, including one guy who is a regular reader here. Some operate snowplows, some are first responders or those who staff hospital ERs, and a snow day is a bad day for them and not the good day it was for me. However, I will let those folks blog about their own stories and I will blog about how much I enjoyed my rare unexpected day off.

Alas, it was soon over because Monday morning came and off to work I went. Prematurely, as it turned out, because the places I needed to drive were closed. Probably because not everyone is the kind of hardy soul that staffs my own company. The world is too soft. So, after getting my truck fired up and cleaned off, I sat in it for a few hours before we were told to head home. Fortunately, I was up to the task and cozied up under a blanket to watch “The Godfather” for the rest of the afternoon.

I could get very, very used to snow days.

Photo by the author, depicting the end results of the determined combination of an aging snow blower and an aging snow blower operator.