SNOW DAYS!!!

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 7PM FRIDAY NIGHT

Those are the words that I read in the bottom right hand corner of my TV screen last night.  What is the very first thing that comes to mind when YOU see that warning on your TV?  My thoughts exactly, SNOW DAY! (Well, you might have had that thought if you were a teacher)  But, I am NOT a fan of snow days, because unlike senors in high school, I still have to make them up! I would rather have more summer days than winter days, but that's just me.

However, what I AM in favor of are late starts and early outs!  And I got my wish today, an early out! (Let alone on a Friday!)  But what this first, hopefully not last, early out really has me thinking about, besides an early drink, are the days of old, my childhood snow days.

Weren't those the best days?  You would wake up early and watch the TV to see if school was cancelled. (Which wasn't very often for me, because Des Moines stinks when it comes to snow days!)  Then it would scroll across the bottom and you would start jumping up in the air.  Then you would start thinking about all of the adventures you were going to have in the snow.

One of my favorite snow days was when I lived on 29th street in DSM.  The day started off with a big breakfast with eggs and bacon (thank you parents!).  Then I was off to go sledding with one of my best friends, Tommy.  The hill we sledded on was no ordinary hill.  It was the MONSTER of all hills.  Which means that by the time you were halfway down it, you were already going 55 MPH! (I don't over-exaggerate at all)  

Drake University used to dump all of the snow that they took off of their campus into the parking lot, which happened to be right next to the MONSTER hill.  So, when we got board of sledding, we would make forts in and around the mountains of snow.  Once our forts were set, we would have amazing snow ball fights.  Sometimes they would last for hours, or what seemed like hours.  When we finally were too cold to stay out any longer, we would move inside to have some hot cocoa and watch some TV.

Those days are long gone, but my inner child will never be gone.  In fact, I think I need to go dust off my sled and go find another MONSTER hill.  I hope that you find your inner child too!

Until Next Time,
Mr. Ryan