The kids are home from school today. This is the second day in 2 weeks where school has been cancelled because of inclement weather. Because we are in the south our city isn't equipped to deal with the teeniest amount of ice, sleet or snow. Lucky for me, I don't have to go to work today (clinic was cancelled) so I get to enjoy the day with my kids.
Regardless of your political leanings to the appropriateness of canceling school because it is cold outside, your inner child has to be yahooing with delight. As a kid, it doesn't get much better than school being canceled for any reason. I grew up in Chamblee, Georgia and I remember vividly the wonder of snow days. The only difference is we did get some real snow accumulation. There was a particular hill in my neighborhood of Huntley Hills behind the houses on Plantation Lane...many kids would gather there with sleds or toboggans or anything that would go down a hill. There were no helmets and there were certainly no adults. We'd walk back home cold and dripping wet and make Totino's Pizza Rolls and watch the Price is Right. It was just my brother and me because my mom still had to go to work. I don't remember if we had to make up those days or not because on that one day, it was absolute freedom. For my kids, it's slightly different in Houston, Texas. In the 23 years I've lived here I think we've had snow stick to the ground only twice and it wasn't more than a light dusting. We did get 2 weeks off of school for a Hurricane, but that is a different story. And because it is flatter than a pre-teen girl's chest, there is zero opportunity for sledding even if there was snow. But, you still get to sleep late, watch bad TV, play video games for hours and run back and forth between your house and your friend's house depending on whose mother is the least irritable at the time. The other difference is that my kids aren't completely unsupervised (not mom's fault...the plight of the single parent).
I suppose 35 years ago, it wasn't as big of a deal not to have a parent around all the time. But, my mom didn't really have a choice and she did the best she could. It's only by the grace of God that a lot of bad stuff didn't happen and that my brother and I didn't end up in the prison system. She was meaner than a snake and I was scared to death of her. I guess it's kind of like animals in the wild, they develop defense mechanisms to ward off any one who might try to do them harm. My mom had this scary as hell exterior so we wouldn't f*ck with her and so we'd do what we were supposed to do. In the words of Sweet Brown she must have been thinking, "I ain't got time for that!"
A couple of times I managed to get away with stuff. One afternoon my friend Cathy and I decided we wanted to make French fries and we almost burned down my house in a grease fire. It took several years to get all the smoke stains off the cabinets. Another time, same friend - Cathy, decided to teach me a lesson and not leave her supervising my younger brother while I rode my bike over to another neighborhood to visit my boyfriend who'd just been in a car accident. I had no sooner arrived at his house than the phone rang and she told me I'd better get home quick b/c my 9 year old brother had just fallen out of a tree and broken his arm. I got on my bicycle and raced home to find him lying on the couch, moaning with his arm in a temporary sling. I burst into tears. I'd like to think it was out of concern for my brother, but it was because I knew my a$$ was toast as soon as my mom found out a)I'd left my little brother and b)I went to a boy's house unsupervised. I was weeping great tears of fear. Cathy and my little brother (and by this time my neighbor Mary Ann had joined in the fun) kept up the rouse for about 10 minutes while I tried to think up all sorts of lies to tell my mother. Finally Bill popped up off the couch and scampered off somewhere to play, arm intact, and Cathy laid into me about ditching her for a boy AND leaving her with my little brother.
I doubt my kids will get into that kind of trouble, but they'll manage their own brand of mischief. The boys are the best because they tell me most things and when they don't their friends do, even if it is unintentional. I've gotten more Intel from my sons' friends just by being a fly on the wall. And thankfully my daughter has a 31 year old neighbor to confide in and I trust her (the neighbor) unquestionably.
Gonna go drink my cup of coffee in peace and torment my oldest son's friends as they have already started bullet texting him at 8 am ("Go back to bed you fool"). I guess I am DOM, daughter of Martha...
Everyone have fun today in the not snow!
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