Why I Savour Snow Days
Yesterday, I woke up with nearly a foot of snow, more sloshing down, and I started laughing. Picture me, alone in my bedroom doing a full body stretch while gazing out the window laughing hysterically at the snow. I knew the day was going to be a mess for most people, but she’s sure pretty out.
There is something delightfully refreshing to me about an abrupt snowstorm. If Mother Nature is indeed a woman, I’d like to think it’s a quick, middle finger to the status quo. A sort of, “This is my house. I’m allowing you to stay. Temporarily. And don’t you forget it.” Yes, shake it up Queen.
These are the type of days that I grab the same turtleneck sweater I’ve had for fifteen years. I slide baggy leg leans overtop of my leggings – for warmth, not looks – and I bop down the stairs. One of the true joys of being a self employed entrepreneur who lives inner city is that I don’t have to drive to get around. Mother nature must have intervened with my calendar, as I had no client appointments out and about. I count my lucky stars. Thankfully there was nothing to switch around or reschedule. How luxurious, indeed.
When I headed out the door to grab a coffee and head to an exercise class, I pulled on my Manitobah Mukluks – owned and created by the hands and hearts of first nations artisans. By step five, totally smothered in this white, sloppy muck, I caught myself giggling just the same as I would when I was a kid on a snow day heading to school. I flexed my hands in my magenta leather gloves to feel the sensation and hear the sound of these garments that I just lugged down from the top shelf of a closet. As a clenched and relaxed and clenched and relaxed my mind whispered, “Hello old friends. How was your summer off?” A few steps later I schjugged my toque – that matches those same leather gloves, let’s be real – to feel the cosiness on my head (and to get it to that sweet spot on my head that’s reading more ski bum than my typical fashionable desires). Simply put, it’s a day where I hoped we could all put on the warmest clothes we have loved for years pulled out from wherever they we stowed away.
That got me to thinking; do we all have that one sweater or one jacket that we pull out for snowmaggedon? Or is it those holy-sh*t-these-are-huge-boots or ginormous snowmobiling mitts with the fluff that you took from your grandparents basement? I hope for some of you it’s that one pair of homemade knit socks that you save year after year because you know you’ll want them on these kind of days.
While I’m mucking about, grinning ear to ear, I try to keep in my mind that unlike the end of the world, we all know that soon enough the snow will melt away and life will return back to the rat race. I savour snow days.
Instead of seeing snow days as burdens, something that you can’t wait for it to pass, why not think of them as a miniature mental health check in? While you’re held snow ransom at home, take a minute and assess where you are at in your life. Maybe strike that chore off your list. Is it closet cleaning? Perhaps you could throw in some laundry or press that pile of clothes that’s be lumped on your chair. Maybe it’s as simple as getting more of your warm clothes out in place of the summer ones that just became second fiddle. Or is it simply doing nothing? Whatever it is, could you think of it as a novelty?
If nothing else, on snow days for those who don’t have to drive, please don’t. Keep the roads clear for those in emergencies. Instead, perhaps you’ll work from home. Perhaps you’ll postpone those dinner plans to avoid the roads. Perhaps you’ll curl up on the couch at home and take a personal day. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll bundle up, limber up, and shovel off the sidewalks. I delight in the thought that I can wear a favourite beret. Paris fashion week barely wrapped after all.
