Snow Joy

JasonStellaSnow

As I watched the snow fall this past weekend I was moved with joy. The depth of the blizzard, a big one at over 20 inches, magnified the sacrifices I’d made for my small business in the prior years. My old scenario would have me cursing the weather report days ahead of snow and ice. And then the day would come. School would inevitably be closed, but mom and dad still needed to work. Jason’s west coast clients don’t exactly stop during an east coast storm. So I’d wake up early to walk to the studio and shovel the walk and teach class all the while worrying about how Jason and Stella were doing at home. Was she letting him get any work done? How would I negotiate juggling snowed in teachers with eager students wanting classes the rest of the snow day(s)? It was an endless stressful cycle to keep the doors open. A cycle that left me drained, and my daughter pretty low on the totem pole.

I had grown to despise the snow. It served only to fully tip my already inequitably balanced life. Jason would duck and cover (only perhaps jokingly) when having to relay a school closing or delay. There was no joy in the beauty of the falling snow and sadly little delight in the moments I did make it to see Stella make snow angels and slide down snow mountains. I was just checking the box. Played in the snow. Smiled. Done.

Leading up to the past few years snow had played the starring role in many of the best moments of my life. The best of all – meeting my husband! Jason and I met when mutual friends gathered for snow football, card games, and plenty of drinking and eating during the President’s Day Blizzard of 2003. It took us a few more months to get to the first kiss, but the white powder started something.

Free of my studio demands I knew from the start this storm would be different. School was delayed Thursday and closed Friday. No biggie. We stocked up on groceries and waited for the snow to fall. I smiled peacefully as I kissed my husband and daughter goodnight. I was once again thankful for the beauty, the gaiety, and wonderment of the white stuff.

Saturday and Sunday I couldn’t have been happier to be snowed in. We shoveled the sidewalks and laughed with neighbors we hadn’t seen in all the cold weather weeks’ prior. And Stella was the top of my priority list. We made snow angels, met up with friends, went sledding (on a very small hill), watched movies, played dollies, and got out every game, puzzle, and craft project we owned. With school closed Monday and Tuesday we declared pajama days and did more of the same.

Last night as DC announced school would be open Wednesday, I looked at Jason and said wow I only lost my temper twice in the past five snow days. I mean I am still me plus pregnant and hormonal, but the point being I was present and fully invested in family. It’s pretty rad…and my snow days also included lots of stuff just for me like yoga, meditation, reading, hot baths, and sweaty workouts.

Snowflakes, snowflakes, come again any day.