There are two kinds of blizzards in New England, and I don't know why we bother with one of them.
There's the "maybe" blizzard. The blizzard that gets talked about for two weeks, scares everybody to death, leads to days of preparation, and ends with about half an inch of snow you can wipe off with your bare hands.
Then there's the other kind of blizzard--the "definite" blizzard.
These are the ones you get two days warning for if you're lucky. These are the ones that the meteorologists talk about through smiles because they know this time they're going to be right. These are the ones that don't scare anybody, because a "definite" blizzard reminds us what we really think of blizzards.
They're fun.
Oh sure, getting stuck inside for an entire day seems like a recipe for cabin fever and lost productivity. We try to look on the bright side by saying we'll use the day to clean and read and catch up on everything we've been DVR'ing for months, but truth be told, there are deep, ingrained reasons why we love a good blizzard.
For one thing, the kid in us still screams "Snow day!" I have today off, and I'm still excited at the prospect of nobody going to work tomorrow. The world seems a lot friendlier when it's told by Mother Nature to kick back and relax with some tea and chicken soup.
Secondly, a snow day is different from all the other kinds of days that can keep you in the house. A rain storm makes you itchy. A summer day that's too hot leaves you languid. A snow day, however, actually holds the potential to look around your house as if for the first time.
When was the last time you looked through those photo albums?
When was the last time you actually read the labels on your spice rack?
When was the last time you hugged someone in your own family?
Oh sure, none of that stuff is on your "to-do list" when the storm starts, but somehow doing it feels more right than cleaning underneath the refrigerator or cracking open that copy of War and Peace.
A blizzard actually makes us pause--really stop--and settle into where we are, and what we want.
We don't want to clean or work steadfastly every second of the day or start projects we can only get to when it's a state of emergency outside. What we want is to enjoy ourselves the people around us. We want to do nothing and not feel bad about it.
A blizzard gives us that permission.
So now, as I'm typing this, snow is falling outside. A large amount of snow.
After I'm done writing this, I'm going to go to sleep knowing that the immediate world is being brought to a dramatic standstill.
And I can't help feeling that might just be for the best.
There's the "maybe" blizzard. The blizzard that gets talked about for two weeks, scares everybody to death, leads to days of preparation, and ends with about half an inch of snow you can wipe off with your bare hands.
Then there's the other kind of blizzard--the "definite" blizzard.
These are the ones you get two days warning for if you're lucky. These are the ones that the meteorologists talk about through smiles because they know this time they're going to be right. These are the ones that don't scare anybody, because a "definite" blizzard reminds us what we really think of blizzards.
They're fun.
Oh sure, getting stuck inside for an entire day seems like a recipe for cabin fever and lost productivity. We try to look on the bright side by saying we'll use the day to clean and read and catch up on everything we've been DVR'ing for months, but truth be told, there are deep, ingrained reasons why we love a good blizzard.
For one thing, the kid in us still screams "Snow day!" I have today off, and I'm still excited at the prospect of nobody going to work tomorrow. The world seems a lot friendlier when it's told by Mother Nature to kick back and relax with some tea and chicken soup.
Secondly, a snow day is different from all the other kinds of days that can keep you in the house. A rain storm makes you itchy. A summer day that's too hot leaves you languid. A snow day, however, actually holds the potential to look around your house as if for the first time.
When was the last time you looked through those photo albums?
When was the last time you actually read the labels on your spice rack?
When was the last time you hugged someone in your own family?
Oh sure, none of that stuff is on your "to-do list" when the storm starts, but somehow doing it feels more right than cleaning underneath the refrigerator or cracking open that copy of War and Peace.
A blizzard actually makes us pause--really stop--and settle into where we are, and what we want.
We don't want to clean or work steadfastly every second of the day or start projects we can only get to when it's a state of emergency outside. What we want is to enjoy ourselves the people around us. We want to do nothing and not feel bad about it.
A blizzard gives us that permission.
So now, as I'm typing this, snow is falling outside. A large amount of snow.
After I'm done writing this, I'm going to go to sleep knowing that the immediate world is being brought to a dramatic standstill.
And I can't help feeling that might just be for the best.
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