Through a Glass, Darkly

All day today there were whispers of the possibility of snow tomorrow throughout the school’s hallways. I heard reports of 5-10 inches, 3-6 inches, 2-4 inches. You can see why I might be skeptical. (Don’t be fooled – I am always skeptical about snow anyway. Because this is North Carolina, and we don’t get snow nearly as often as we get predictions of snow.) I still think that somehow or another it won’t really snow, but the worst case scenario is that it starts snowing while we are at school tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong – it would be nice for the day to count, but the students are already off the charts crazy with holiday excitement. I am not sure that we could all survive if it started snowing. (Plus, we’ve still got to go two days next week. The kids really need to pace themselves.) I would really prefer not to drive home in a wintry mess.

I remember sitting in Calculus my senior year of high school watching snow pour down outside. It’s hard enough to pay attention to Calculus at the best of times, so who could blame me for being a little bit distracted? It wasn’t cold enough for it to stick to the roads, but it fell so thick and fast, covering everything with a beautiful white blanket. At lunchtime, everyone in my class went out and made snow angels on the football field. Afterward, everyone was wet and shivering, but I could look down from my classroom window at the angels rapidly filling with snow and I couldn’t feel the cold at all. If we have to try to keep 1100 students calm in the middle of the holiday season plus snowfall, I will try to remember that it could end up being a day that they will treasure for a long, long time.