Snow Day

It seems cold, snowy weather has taken over the majority of the country. I love the snow. I always have. There is something about seeing your surroundings transformed into an ice and snow-lined compound that makes it feel like you are in some sort of alternate universe. Everything moves at a different pace and even the ugliest, trash-littered street becomes beautiful. And now that I live in Chicago, I get my fair share of it - which suits me fine. It is supposed to be chilly in the winter. It is not supposed to be 80 and humid. 

I heard from my brother that school is cancelled today in Dallas. I'm jealous for my nephews. Snow days were the best. It was different from a weekend or a school holiday in that it just sort of crept up on you like jock itch or a restraining order. One minute you're eating dinner and altering your report card and then next thing you know it is morning and everything is covered in ice. So awesome. I remember on snow days everyone being huddled around the radio listening KRLD do the announcement of school closings while my mom hurried around our brown 80s kitchen giving my oldest brother a list of "to do" things for all of us and telling him where the key to my cage was located. Because that was the great thing about snow days, parents still had to go to work. My dad was an early riser and gone at 6am, so it was up to my mom to tame the crew, feed Molly Brown, our Basset Hound, and Sterling, our cat, before she got in our brown 80s station wagon and took to the icy streets. And as soon as that wagon was out of sight it was a free-for-all. My oldest brother would immediately depart, leaving myself with my other brother and sister. And in only a matter of moments the house was filled with friends from all over the neighborhood. Following is a fairly accurate schedule for a snow day in the Kirk house:

8:15 - school cancelled

8:28 - mom leaves

8:30 - Cham leaves

8:44 - Price Is Right

9:00 - CHiPS

9:14 - GIANT bowl of cereal spilled on couch

9:34 - wreck blanket fort my sister and her friend made

10:00 - friends come over

10:01 - me and friends begin rifling through my dad's Playboys

10:47 - brother catches us

10:48 - temper tantrum

10:50 - Lee and friends rifle through Playboys

11:05 - take Molly out to take a dump, sans leash

11:06 - Molly runs away

11:07 - yelled at for losing dog

11:08 - 2nd temper tantrum

11:29 - put Red Barron pizza in oven

11:51 - forget about pizza

11:54 - me and friends begin rifling through oldest brother's things

12:09 - smoke alarm goes off

12:11 - yelled at about smoke alarm

12:12 - 3rd temper tantrum

12:16 - resume rifling through brother's things

12:30 - oldest brother comes home, catches us

12:31 - my friends told to leave

12:34 - go running out the door screaming "nobody likes me, I'm running away!"

12:40 - get 3 blocks down the street and realize nobody is chasing after me

12:58 - pouting on street corner gets old, decide no to run away

1:06 - back in house and pout in front of brother, sister and their friends

1:14 - rifle through sisters things

1:30 - tease cat

1:45 - pinned down and farted on by brother and his friends

1:46 - 4th temper tantrum

1:50 - run away again

2:00 - return home and nobody is there

2:00 - 5:00 - neighborhood chaos with my bike gang

THE END