Could we have a "snow day"?
Remember the exquisite joy of snow days, when, as soon as the AM radio announcer grimly intoned the name of your school, you were immediately freed from all rules and responsibility?
I got to eat breakfast in my pajamas, watch too much television and generally live out a kid's fantasy of what life would be like without school.
Adulthood, I've been sad to discover, has no real equivalent. Even the "mental health day," available to those of us lucky enough to get paid sick time, lacks the truly liberating qualities of a snow day. For one thing, your colleagues are still working, so voice and e-mails pile up while you're away. And, somehow, household chores and errands assert themselves, making demands on your theoretically free time.
I was thinking yesterday, as I spent the entire day at home, air conditioner cranked up, shades drawn and large pitcher of ice water at the ready, how lovely it would be to be able to declare the "excessive heat warning" version of a snow day.
Still, even as I read and wrote and checked my e-mails, it occured to me that society probably wouldn't grind to a halt if we all just took the day off. Americans get less vacation time than workers in almost any other country. Surely a few days -- maybe a couple of snow days and a heat day or two -- wouldn't cause the entire economy to collapse.
And wouldn't it be, ultimately, so much more civilized not to have to work so hard at maintaining your dignity when it's insanely hot outside?
