Man I Love A Good Snow Day

I was in the mountains this last weekend for my granddaughters hockey tournament. The weather was beautiful, my daughters family stayed at my cabin and it was a really great time. And then the weather changed. We walked into the arena with warm weather and very little snow on the ground. We walked out of the rink after the gold medal game, which our team didn’t win, and the flurries had already started. My daughters family hit the road quickly in order to beat the storm that was headed our way. I went back to the cabin to chill and watch some Olympic action.

Today there is snow piled high. The roads are slick and the highways are a mess from BC to Alberta. It is crazy. My daughter made it home all right with just a bit of a delay. As for me, I have had a great day. Got up late, made coffee and breakfast and I have spent the entire day watching the Olympics. The fireplace is on and I am toasty warm in my little cocoon. There is something so comforting about not being able to go anywhere. Oh we can still go out, run errands, go to work. But all of the news stations ask us to stay home. Somehow that gives us this incredible lack of guilt for doing nothing. It is so freeing.

When I was young, we had a circular driveway that came in and around our house and headed out on the other side of the yard. There were so many trees and bushes and when we got a great snow storm, the driveway sometimes had snowdrifts that were up to three feet deep. Sadly my Dad would walk over to his office across the road and get his work truck and we would shovel a path out of the yard. Then we got a ride to school. But sometimes, we just got to stay home. And it was so blissful. We did nothing. Because it was a free holiday. I loved it. And my Mom also treated it as a free day. I could read. Watch TV. Just hang out. The best part was when the snowdrifts settled and My Dad would help dig out snow forts. It was fun having him play but I think he was just making sure our forts were safe.

That feeling in the morning when you looked out the window and saw nothing but drifts was thrilling. But it was also so beautiful. And even though it was too cold or snowy to go to school, we still went out and played. Or walked around the huge yard. It was just a magical and quiet world where the snow covered all of the ugly. Even the trees were covered and the sun would beat down and everything sparkled. I always felt like I was alone in the world. I would trudge through the drifts and create a world of my own. The sound of the snow crunching under my boots still fills me with joy as I remember those lovely days way back when. Roads and homes where I tramped down the snow. Inventing a whole story about who lived in this made up world. It was a world where peace reigned supreme. It was magic. The sound of the snow crunching under my boots still fills me with joy as I remember those lovely days way back when.

These days it is a little different. But some things remain the same. I went for a walk down to the park today and it was the same peaceful feeling I had as a child. Yet there was more noise. More traffic. More people. But here in my house, looking out the window I felt the same giddy feeling of having a no guilt do nothing day. Which is weird since I am retired and live alone. I can do whatever I want whenever I want. Without guilt. But the snow day is different. I read a little bit, I relax, I go in the hot tub and I snooze in front of the TV re-watching an old Miss Marple movie. The snow is deep as I look into my front yard. It glistens in the sun. And the same sense of peace invades my body. I am alone in my own little world, all warm and cozy. And just like my younger years, I snack. No meals. Just snack on whatever makes me happy. Because that is a part of a snow day. Comfort food.

I think what the world needs more of is snow days. Not literally. But those days where we just retreat into a little cocoon and heal any wounds that have lingered on our soul. A day of falling asleep on the couch while watching a movie and then restarting it only to do the same thing again. I truly believe we need some solitude in life to truly drown out the noise of living. To keep the energy of the world at bay in order to see into our own souls. To learn about who we really are deep down. The world likes to slot us into a file folder that makes sense to them. We can either allow it or not. Over time it becomes harder and harder to fight back. To say, nope, that isn’t me. When life wears us down we tend to just take the path of least resistance. We let the world knock us off our chosen road. Sadly, it can make life more difficult.

Don’t get me wrong. Getting poked once in a while keeps us sharp. Makes us learn a few things about the people we share space with. It can be good to have wake up calls. If life is too smooth, we take the good parts for granted and forget how truly blessed we are. Every now and then though, we need to slow down, shut off the outside world, listen to our hearts and feel our breath as it goes in and out. Close our eyes. Listen to the silence. Feel a great white light come down from the universe to envelop us and bring us a sense of calm. And what I have learned is that I don’t need a snow day to retreive the memories of my childhood bliss. I can recreate it any time I want. But for today, I am embracing the snow. Remembering the magic that Mama Nature can send me now and again. And later I will read in the hot tub while the night sky shuts out the world as it glows with the light reflecting off of the snow. And I will be ready for gomorrow and whatever the world throws my way. Nothing can steal my peace after a snow day. Nothing at all.