Snow days are for not having anything to show for yourself

So here I am. The coveted snow day. Joey the cat probably thinks "Wow, mom, you're making lots of progress in the sleeping-in department. Way to go!" (as sleeping is his favorite pasttime) Yesterday I got up at still a decent time but today I'm embarrassed to say how late i slept. It was the whole "I knew we were having a snow day" thing. No alarm. I did wake up at 6 this morning and think "Oh no, I overslept!"; then I quickly remembered that this was okay. I vaguely remember my husband kissing me goodbye and I think I rolled over and grunted or maybe mumbled "love you" as he left to face the arctic temperatures and navigating the snowy roads.

I do have the whole "survivor's guilt" thing about me getting to stay home and him not. Sure, there's the whole "The kids are crazy!" thing when at school and there's snow and the whole liability and transportation thing. But seriously, everyone else has the whole transportation thing too. And sometimes people who aren't teachers think we're big babies or something for not being able to make it out in the snow or something when everyone else has to put on their boots, coats, and wield the ice scraper. But really, for their being many down sides to being a teacher (I will not elaborate here, there are other posts for that; wouldn't want anyone to think I'm complaining), having the potential for snow days is a bright spot. I will put up with my "love pit" because I know there are days that I will not have to. Speaking of, he was gone Friday and that was like a "snow day" from my love pit in itself.

But I digress. My favorite Ann Voskamp has posts for the weekends that are titled something like "Weekends are for..." And it got me to thinking about snow days and the reasons I love them. Hence my title. Snow days are for not having anything to show for yourself. Snow days are for enjoyment. If I want to make homemade clam chowder and it takes me an hour to do it, that's okay. If I want to reorganize my craft cabinet and watch a movie, that's okay too. In the whirlwind and regular "wear and tear" of each day, I get caught up in the ongoing "to-do" list and whole being productive thing (it's overrated). But I feel like there's really no other alternative. And something about snow days makes it's okay to not get anything done that day. Like the world and normal "laws" of productivity don't apply that day. And even though I did get things done yesterday, it was like a "freebie." And my to-do list wasn't determined by "hustle and bustle" but by "I feel like doing ..." (although lugging the pieces to my old desk down to the dumpster or the boxes of Christmas decorations down to storage were not in the "feel like" category but the "need to"-however, this meant I didn't have to do it at night or make my husband do it.)

So I will pour myself some more Earl Gray tea and curl up with the kitty. And do something else to make our home more cozy. If I feel like it. For tomorrow is coming, and probably school and probably my precious "love pit." And I will probably have more energy to tolerate and love him because I had these days.