When I was in elementary school in Phoenix, Arizona, we did not have snow days. However, one morning our school called to tell us that the main road to the school had flooded and that there would be no school that day. I will never forget crawling into my parents’ warm waterbed on that cold rainy morning to snuggle with my mom. I can’t remember what we did that day, but I remember the feelings of excitement and comfort of staying at home with my family. It was the closest we would get to having a snow day.

Fast forward 30 years to Maryland with my own children in elementary school and we are living through the snowiest winter on record. Last totals listed almost 80 inches of snow for the season…Almost 50 inches falling over the past six days, and on none of those days have we had school. It is not a snow day, it’s our snow week. And I wonder what my children will remember from this week? Sledding? Having to stay inside? Pancakes every morning? Movie night every night? Actually, I would be fine if their memory fades as mine has, and if all they remember are the excitement and comfort of staying at home as a family.

This has been a good reminder and lesson for me to recall: it is not so much the details of our lives, but the feelings with which we live.