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It snowed. It was a quiet morning when I heard my husband call to the boys, “Rise and Shine[1]!”

“So early”, I thought, “Was it really time to get up already?”

Philip hit the floor running. He always did: forever looking for what was around the next corner. John,... low gear John...dumped himself out of bed, and with eyes still half closed, slowly maneuvered his way down the hall.[2] Andy, rummaging around in his room, whined, “Oh man... I gotta do my spelling words yet!”[3]

As Dad herded this “happy huddle” into the sunny dining room, he slowly turned to the window, “Wow! Look outside! It really snowed last night!”[4]

He clicked on the radio and chuckled, “Hum?...I wonder if there will be school today.” It got very quiet as all three scruffy heads swung around toward Dad and the newsworthy clock radio.[5]

No School? Could it be? They sat still... Not even breathing... Oh please, please, they silently prayed in unison as the announcer read the long list of school closings. Even the dog had a wistful look of hope on his face as his ears tilted forward in anticipation.

Andy sat with eyes closed and fingers double-crossed on each hand. Then, the happiest words on earth! He said it! Schofield... all schools closed! The cheers went up! They yelled with the sheer joy of only the young!

Watching from a safe distance, the cat sat with a haughty look on his face, as if to say, “Oh good grief, my peaceful day is shot!”

A snow day! A snow day! They came bounding down the hall and onto my bed. Laughing, cheering, and barking as they scrambled around me, just in case I had not heard the fantastic news![6]

I thought, “What a transformation! Are these the same slugs that I heard only moments earlier, dragging their half dead carcass’s down the hall and into another grueling day of homework and spelling tests?”[7]

I dug my head down deeper into my warm pillow and drew the cozy down comforter closely under my chin.

“Ahhhh... A snow day!” You see, I worked for the school district, and had the same schedule as my children!

Andy quietly tucked his spelling sheet back into his school bag, John was doing his very own style of the Happy Dance and it would take a very large spatula to scrape Philip off the ceiling!

As the kids finally settled down in front of “Captain Kangaroo”[8], I relaxed and slowly began to enjoy this special day.

The sun shown like a million diamonds on the gigantic white waves of drifted snow, mimicking[9] the blue-green oceans so far, far away from Central Wisconsin.[10] This was a whole new world to discover.

Their large and playful dog led the party of brave scouts, dressed in snow pants, scarves and warm mittens as they began their quest into the sea of white.[11] They were on the way to the discovery of hidden caves and new adventures. I watched from the warm house as they dug and scraped, hauled and carried their way into the side of the largest drift in our Yard of Transformations. Finally they stood back, with the satisfied look of architects and builders on their faces and declared it completed!

Suddenly John turned to the window and waved a soggy mitten at me. His face and warm smile an invitation for me to “Come have a look! See what we built!!” This was an offer I just couldn’t pass up[12].

I donned my warmest jacket, hat and mittens, and headed for the back door. The proud proprietors of this icy establishment invited me to “crawl on in!” “Come on Mom, it’s so cool! You’ll love it”, they all chimed[13]!

I crawled into this world of boys, dogs and long forgotten memories. We all snuggled together. Their faces, sweaty from hard work, noses running from the cold, the smell of wet wool, combined with a panting 80-pound dog humbled[14] me. This was the world of children. And I was invited in. There was no other place on earth that I would rather have been.

It’s a free day! A day disconnected from any other. What a wonderful gift! It lay before us, an invitation to enjoy it fully, happily and without reserve.