Guest post by a dear friend of mine and a Milwaukee Mom.
(You know, the song that never ends… I should have posted this last week, but it’s taken me a week to recover and recalibrate from these past two weeks, so here it is. But looking out my window right now, I do wonder if we’ll have another snow day tomorrow. Morning Edit: And I couldn’t post this last night because my web host was having technical difficulties, so here it is today. In case you were wondering, no snow day for us - just a late start.)
We’ve done this vacation thing for three years now. Winter break was coming and we knew full and well, that the word vacation had no connection to the experience it would bring. They say its mind over matter, so mind over matter it was. We could carve out the week to connect with the kids, and give them some fun quality time over the course of the 5 days. And we did. We did all the things that would get us stickers on the parenting chart. We probably could even have picked a prize from the treasure chest for a job well done. As the weekend approached we patted ourselves on the shoulder, celebrated the emotional survival of both parent and child and looked ahead to the coming week. And then the coming week came.
Monday brought 15 inches of snow and NO SCHOOL. We got a small break on Tuesday with just enough time to shovel the 15 inches of snow from the day prior. And then news of Wednesday broke - freezing cold temperatures and NO SCHOOL! (#polarvortex)
At this point we have been home and out of school for 12 days! It’s -50 degrees outside and we are confined to the indoors of our home. The same four walls we have been in for the last 12 days! With no choice and nowhere to go, we plow forward. (no pun intended) By now nothing in the house is off limits – if it can’t be used as a weapon for a homicide it is allowed. You want to fill the empty detergent containers with hand-soap and shampoo and experiment in the tub - sure! Make slides out of all the pillows and blankets in the house – go for it! We build cities, we paint, doo dot, color, cut, take online art lessons, bake, and even have a birthday party. By the days end every cabinet and closet in the house is open and in disarray. The entire contents of the basement playroom are dispersed throughout the house. Tiny bits of cut paper are scattered through the kitchen alongside chocolate frosting handprints. The dishes are full of sinks, mom’s brain is mush and the house is in an official state of dysfunction.
We console ourselves with the thought that school can’t be cancelled forever and that routine will reign once again. But will it? I just read the email about tomorrow…NO SCHOOL!
