The Snow Day Game

I forgot this wonderful part of living in Michigan - The Snow Day Game.

What, you don't know The Snow Day Game?  Yes you do.  It goes like this:

"It's supposed to snow tonight?  How much?"

*In a panic, go online to check the weather.  Check really quickly because maybe the forecast will change if you don't check it fast enough.*

"Whoo hoo!  You're right!  It is supposed to snow!  Wait...when are we going to get the most of it?"

*Go back to your online search.  If the snow is supposed to hit between 10 PM and midnight, you're screwed.  Get your lesson plans ready, cuz you're going to work tomorrow.  If it hits between 12 midnight and 3AM, you've got a shot.  If the bulk hits between 3 and 6AM, you've got a good chance.  If the worst isn't supposed to hit until after 6, then you're back to lesson planning.*

"We're supposed to get five inches between 3 and 5AM?  SWEET!  I'm gonna skip lesson planning and watch a movie!"

Then you keep your fingers crossed that you do actually have a snow day, because you never really know.  You do the bare minimum of work that you'll need for the next day, and you go to sleep praying for as much snow as the clouds can drop.  You wake up, run to the window, and think "YES - THIS HAS TO BE A SNOW DAY," but you don't really know until you see the glorious name of your school scrolling across the closings list.  And then, when you finally do see your school's name, then you react like you just won the lottery and Miss America at the same time:

"SNOW DAY!!!  I HAVE A SNOW DAY!  THIS IS THE BEST DAY IN THE HISTORY OF EVER!!  I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!  THIS IS SUCH A SHOCK!!!  OH MY, A SNOW DAY?!?!?!  THIS IS SO GREAT!!!"  and you hop around for about five more minutes to celebrate your victory, and then you promptly go back to bed for three more hours.

I've been living in Nevada for the past two years, so I haven't been able to play this game.  In Nevada, you never get a surprise day off.  They're always planned.  Only in their wildest dreams to Nevada students get to hear, "Go back to bed. You don't have school today."  For Michigan students, this is practically an annual certainty.  Still, for some reason it never gets less exciting.  Even when we don't end up with a snow day, the excitement of maybe getting a paid day off for no reason is still really fun.

I love snow days.  Right as I type this I'm playing The Snow Day Game.  West Michigan's having a blizzard to end all blizzards, and we're supposed to get more snow tonight.  There's a good chance of a snow day tomorrow, so I'm blogging and catching up on some magazine reading instead of doing lesson plans.  I really should do lesson plans since we could potentially have school tomorrow....  but I'm really hoping for a snow day.  It would be a great way to start the new semester.

Here's to winning The Snow Day Game!