Snow Many Choices

 Baby, it's cold outside! 

I started the day in the sunroom, as usual. The one advantage to the frigid temperature is that it's preserving Sunday's snow, making the view from our sunroom a lovely one. Still, one of the advantages of working from home is choosing where to do that work, especially when I have the house to myself.  Cold as it is, I decided to give the heater in the sunroom a rest. 

Until tomorrow. 

In re-reading the post below (from seven years ago!), I realized that my snow days have come almost full circle. These days, I'm more likely to do classwork than write, especially when the snow arrives the week before classes start. There's something inspiring about the snow, though, whether it's inspiring ideas for my books or ideas for the classroom.

There are many things I miss about those hectic snow days when my daughter was small but an endless parade of wet clothes and dirty dishes is not on that list. Today, I'm grateful for the luxury of a warm, quiet house that offers me my choice of spaces in which to do the work I must get done.

Image by Terri Cnudde from Pixabay

It is snowing. And snowing. And snowing. I finally got the snow day I've been hoping for.

And I am at loose ends.

When I was single (many, many years ago) and living by myself, snow days were a lovely gift. They came with permission to sleep in, do whatever I wanted and hang out in my pjs all day if I wanted to. And I often wanted to.

When I was a newlywed, this changed very little. My husband's office didn't do snow days, so my snow days proceeded much as they always had. Sure, a few household things made it onto the to-do list for the day, but I didn't feel too obligated to stray from my usual snow day plan, though I made sure to shower and put on real clothes before he came home.

When I became a parent, the rules changed. Suddenly, someone else was hanging around for the duration of my snow day, and she wanted to be entertained. This was fun most of the time, and indoctrinating my daughter into my "all day in our pjs" plan took very little persuasion.

As my daughter grew older, she took on her own snow day plans. Picking up wet clothes, making hot chocolate and trying to get a few things done around the plans she made began to impact my lazy day-at-home-plans. When the weather was bad enough to keep my husband at home, too, I managed to get some writing done during their jaunts outside.

These days, my husband and I are empty nesters and technology has made it possible for both of us to work from home on my snow days. As the partner who works from home for at least part of every day, this requires some adjustment on my part. I love having him here, but our work styles are very different. I work best in silence and I put on a sweater when I get cold. He sets the thermostat higher, likes music in the background and frequently makes noise in my quiet house. This is only fair, of course, since he lives here, too, and I have no right to complain, especially some of those noises come from things like emptying the dishwasher and running the snow blower. Still, as the person who works from home on a daily basis, I find myself struggling to accomplish the things I set out to do on my beloved snow days.

Jill111 via Pixabay

This, too, has changed. I'm less likely to curl up with a book, or stretch out on the sofa and watch a movie. The time available in a snow day, like currency, is finite and I want to spend it wisely. I usually sleep in, nearly always write and try to do some adulting (household projects, neglected to-do list items, laundry) as well. Still, these days go much too quickly.

As I look out on the beauty just outside my window, it seems only right to take a deep breath and seek to inhale a dose of the serenity the snow on the trees evokes. An antidote to the need to succeed that accompanies the lists I make and the tasks I set for myself, maybe it's trying to tell me something.

Like it's (still) okay to spend the day in my pjs.