Journal: 12/10/05

It turns out we did have a “snow day” yesterday. Shortly after I finished writing yesterday’s journal entry (at about 6:00 am), the snow started falling in earnest, and in a few minutes I received a call that school was canceled. I sighed in appreciation, poured another cup of coffee, and began making plans for a wonderful holiday. By the soft light of my desk lamp, I sipped my coffee and looked out the window at the snow swirling and descending fairly heavily. It did turn out to be a marvelous day. All day my son Matt and I (his school was closed too) enjoyed that ancient feeling of doing nothing important, nothing that desperately had to be done. He worked on his iPod, downloading songs and then listening with a smile, and I read, wrote holiday letters to my students, and ran some errands. In the late afternoon, I took a brisk walk in the park. The shoveled paths were still too icy, but I discovered that I could get fine exercise trudging up and down one of the snow-covered hills. It was an afternoon of brilliant winter beauty. I did most of my walking near an enormous bare oak tree, from where I could see, in the west, the smooth layers of light from the setting sun, and, in the east, a rising half moon. I could have stayed for hours, except that I was frozen after about 30 minutes, so I walked back home along the snowy dark streets.