Anticipation

It doesn't mean what Carly Simon meant. Here in the Great Northeast, anticipation means: weather. Yes, once again, we are in the middle of a snow/ice storm with only a dusting of 3-6 inches and a quarter to a half of an inch of ICE. Oh, I hate ice. Last time we had a quater of an inch of ice a tree fell across our road, the power went out, and we all had to huddle at my mother-in-law's for heat. The schools have all closed in anticipation of not being able to safely get the children back home. (A teacher's nightmare: stranded students in your charge.) So, I am predicting that we will lose power and that I will not be able to write for a bit.

I call these kind of days, mandatory snow days. Adults rarely get snow days, and mothers almost never get snow days, so when the weather says that you have to stay home and take it easy, I appreciate it. When my husband was at music camp as a kid, (Yes, yes, I know, geek! But he is my geek and I love him.) the students/campers would become so engrossed in their instruments that they never took time to stop practicing and have fun. The camp created something called mandatory fun, where the camp leaders would take them shopping, to eat out, or just to a park. The campers would get all annoyed because they were "wasting time" when they could be practicing, but in the end everyone benefitted from some fresh air. And I think that a mandatory snow day is healthy. Everyone can benefit from some "fresh" anything other than what they are doing normally.

Today, we are going to do dishes and laundry early, in case we no longer can use the water because of a power outage. We will take showers early and clean out the fridge in anticipation of some food passing before its time. The little one is enjoying the snow as we speak as she sleds down our hill with her father. We will bake superbowl cookies and cook dinner early. And all in all, we will spend some time away from everything else.