Unexpected School Closings

The kids suddenly getting a day off from school is usually a bit predictable.  There is usually a storm front of some sort to follow on the weather.  The forecast will show something that gets the kids all excited to get a “snow day” and they’ll go to bed with their pajamas on inside-out because, as school age superstition around here has it, that helps the snow storm pile up the frozen white fluffy stuff and cancel school for the day.

So when it is late August and 75 degrees outside and I get the kids up for school and take the dog out for a walk in shorts and a t-shirt, I really don’t expect to walk back inside the house at 6:45 A.M. to hear the words “no school today” coming from my husband as he is telling the older 2 kids they can go back to bed (the youngest was already in her gym uniform and walking the dog with me).  The verdict for today is broken water main on the property of the school and as they have no water in the building, they cannot have school. 

A couple of years ago this would have filled me with dread and a little bit of panic as I would have to figure out what to do with the kids so I could get to work.  When my Mom was still alive I would have called her and begged for the kids to have a day with Granny and she would have likely saved the day.  But it also might have meant ticking off my former employer by calling in with a family emergency and this would have angered the borg collective that I worked for since they aren’t very understanding of unexpected time off for family issues (heck, they are  a major hospital system and they aren’t very understanding of missing work when you are sick – but I digress).

Fortunately these days I am now at home during the day, I miss the full time paycheck, but the ability to adapt to days like today is one of the plusses that come with the lower income.  Instead today there was eye-ball toast, pancakes with chocolate chips and an ignoring of housework that really needs to get done – time to move everything on the “to-do” list over a day or so.  But for the parents who work outside the home full time and depend on a certain schedule I feel for you.