THE GIRLS AND I had snow days yesterday, with the schools they attend and the college where I work all closed. The occasion afforded reflection on yet another example of how differently parents and their children see the world. All of us greeted the closures with joy, but for quite varied reasons.
For R. and Q., there was no school to deal with. R. had homework, but it was minimal, so she enjoyed plenty of chillaxing. Q. spent hours and hours at a friend’s house. And at the end of the day they romped in the snow at an impromptu neighborhood gathering.

For me, since classes at the college were canceled and administrative offices closed, email took a blessed break. My position requires 24/7 on-call responsibilities, and I’m on point for announcing decisions regarding weather delays and closures, so it wasn’t exactly a day off. But because few people were working, I was able to crank away on other items in addition to weather announcements without having to deal with the smothering avalanche of email my campus produces daily.

Yes, this brought me joy. You know it would for you, too. | DL