The best words a teacher can hear (aside from "you're hired")

Say, readers in northern climes, what were the two words you most hoped to hear just as you were getting up and ready for school? The words you prayed for, the words you wore pajamas inside out and slept with a spoon under your pillow (what this does for mojo, I don't know) for in hopes to induce this magical event to occur?


Picture me waking with my alarm, blearily getting dressed, letting the dog out, and turning on the radio, computer, and TV in the distant hope that we'd get called out. The forecast predicted 6-12 inches that would start at 8am and get particularly nasty in the afternoon, right about when the kids would go home. My superintendent is notorious for not closing even when everyone else does, so I held out little hope. As the minutes ticked on, the list grew longer. Then, my hopes rose: Iroquois and Frontier closed. They're close to us. Hmm. Should I even dare to dream? Then, like dominoes, East Aurora and Hamburg fell. They're the ones that, if they close, well, we HAVE to close. Right? Right??? Yet I remembered a day last year when this didn't happen. Two busloads of students got into minor accidents on icy roads that day. Would the superintendent remember, too? Would she remember irate parent calls about safety and endangering their children's lives? Pleeeeeeeeze? Suddenly, just as I was about to put on my work clothes, DH yelled out, "OP! OP Central!" I raced to the computer to confirm, and oh yes, oh happy day, hallelujah sing the praises of our benevolent and brilliant superintendent, we...were...CLOSED. As was every other district in the area except one, who stayed open, sent the kids home at 10 am, and apologized publicly on TV for his "poor judgment". Whoops.

I meant to write about this on Friday when it happened (YESSSSS!), but I was too busy racing to the grocery store at 8:30 with everyone else to get supplies, doing laundry, making zucchini bread, watching Penny frolic like a sweet little lunatic in the snow, reading, and shoveling. Right now it is a totally winterwhite-world, my favorite expression for this time of year. White Christmas? You betcha. I will also note that if any student of mine even dares to come in without a rough draft of the essay that was due on Friday, it will not be pleasant for him or her. Not at all.

p.s. Baaaaad storm hitting Sunday night. Could we go for a two-fer? Honestly, from a teacher perspective, I really need us to be in school so I can get those essays and correct them before the holiday starts, but a little part of me would love it. Maybe I'll sleep with a spoon under my pillow....