Snow Days

As a boy easily bored in school, I loved snow days. We lived in one of the world’s great sledding locales, just off Canterbury Road in west Raleigh. Every crossing street – Churchill, Lewis Farm, Grant – is a steep hill both ways. We spent hours going down them, going home long after dark.
 
Then you grow up. You get jobs at places where you have to show up on snow days, like newspapers and Governor’s Offices. You have to fetch kids from school, then keep them entertained at home. I learned why my mother was happy to let the four of us sled ourselves to exhaustion.
 
Now, as empty-nesters, snow days are welcome again. An excuse to stay home beckons. You can work there perfectly well; that’s why Al Gore invented the Internet. And no kids strewing wet coats, hats, gloves and boots across the floor every couple of hours.
 
Some people stock up on bread, milk and toilet paper. We check the red wine supply. We debated evacuating to the beach, where up to 10 inches is predicted. But our place there is small. With two people and two dogs, it could be like “The Shining.”
 
One day, though, I want to watch snow fall on Jockey’s Ridge and the Roanoke Sound.
 
My cousin Karen is probably amused by all this. She grew up and lived all her life in Rochester and Buffalo. Just a few months ago she, her husband and their dogs moved to the Charlotte area. I’m sure she’s laughing at us cancelling school before a flake falls, rushing to stock up like the End Days are nigh and tuning in to 24-hours Stormaggedon news coverage.
 
So now it’s time to chill out, curl up and watch it pile up. But let’s have a thought for other people. Like utility linemen out in the dark and cold making sure you have lights and heat. Like police officers, fire fighters and paramedics who are out there for us. Yes, even like news people who have to be there.
 
And people who aren’t lucky enough to have heat and warmth. Or a roof over their heads and a warm bed to lie in.
 
As you watch the President, the politicians and the pundits tonight talk about poverty, inequality, unemployment and the politics of it all, remember that there are people out in the cold.
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Gary Pearce

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Snow Days

As a boy easily bored in school, I loved snow days. We lived in one of the world’s great sledding locales, just off Canterbury Road in west Raleigh. Every crossing street – Churchill, Lewis Farm, Grant – is a steep hill both ways. We spent hours going down them, going home long after dark.
 
Then you grow up. You get jobs at places where you have to show up on snow days, like newspapers and Governor’s Offices. You have to fetch kids from school, then keep them entertained at home. I learned why my mother was happy to let the four of us sled ourselves to exhaustion.
 
Now, as empty-nesters, snow days are welcome again. An excuse to stay home beckons. You can work there perfectly well; that’s why Al Gore invented the Internet. And no kids strewing wet coats, hats, gloves and boots across the floor every couple of hours.
 
Some people stock up on bread, milk and toilet paper. We check the red wine supply. We debated evacuating to the beach, where up to 10 inches is predicted. But our place there is small. With two people and two dogs, it could be like “The Shining.”
 
One day, though, I want to watch snow fall on Jockey’s Ridge and the Roanoke Sound.
 
My cousin Karen is probably amused by all this. She grew up and lived all her life in Rochester and Buffalo. Just a few months ago she, her husband and their dogs moved to the Charlotte area. I’m sure she’s laughing at us cancelling school before a flake falls, rushing to stock up like the End Days are nigh and tuning in to 24-hours Stormaggedon news coverage.
 
So now it’s time to chill out, curl up and watch it pile up. But let’s have a thought for other people. Like utility linemen out in the dark and cold making sure you have lights and heat. Like police officers, fire fighters and paramedics who are out there for us. Yes, even like news people who have to be there.
 
And people who aren’t lucky enough to have heat and warmth. Or a roof over their heads and a warm bed to lie in.
 
As you watch the President, the politicians and the pundits tonight talk about poverty, inequality, unemployment and the politics of it all, remember that there are people out in the cold.
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Gary Pearce

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