World of Snow

I wake up slowly, stretch, and rub the sleepy seeds from my eyes. I stumble into the bathroom to brush my teeth and then lurch into the kitchen to put on milk for hot chocolate. Halfway to the stove, I stop cold and look again through the sliding glass doors.

It's nothing but white outside.

The world is drenched in silken, pillowy snow.

All of a sudden I'm a kid again. I rush to get into my ski pants, buckle up my boots, and pull on my mittens. I open the door and step outside into a world that is as pure and innocent as my childhood.

The air smells of snow - cold, crisp, dry, and slightly acidic. The tree limbs are bowed and not even the rabbits have been out. The world is still, majestic, and nothing stirs. The sun's not out yet, but the brightness makes me squint my eyes.

The world is clean, virgin, muted, soft. Winter is finally here!

As Head of School, I am not sure that I should be admitting this publicly, but, as I made my way outside, I thought to myself, "I wonder if tomorrow will be a snow day?"

(After twenty-plus years spent teaching at boarding schools, where school was never called off because everyone lived on campus, it was a luxury even to fantasize about school being called on account of snow.)

I remember vividly the snow days of my youth - each one was a little present wrapped in virgin white. I used my presents to make money shoveling out the neighbors, to build forts with my buddies, and to sled down Old Man Merrill's hill.

But what I remember most about snow days was the unexpected nature of them, waking up to a world blanketed in white, listening apprehensively to AM radio for which schools were closed, and then erupting into raucous cheers (although I don't seem to remember my parents reacting with the same exuberance) when I heard that the day was mine to do with as I pleased.

Snow days are fickle presents, and there is always a degree of confusion surrounding them. Snow plows tend to clear the school bus routes first, but bus companies have their own protocols for whether they head out or not, protocols informed by the demands of their respective insurance policies. Regardless, the bottom line is always the safety of the students.

As everyone knows, weather conditions in the Tahoe Basin can vary not only from town to town but also from street to street, so please use your own judgment about whether it is safe to transport your children to and from school.

If you do not feel as though you can get your children to school safely, give your school a call, and let them know your plans.

We will thank you . . . and your children will as well.

--Steve McKibben
2/18/07