Ahh, the snow day. The dream of many a student and, secretly, some teachers. 

I woke up this morning, anticipating the slim possibility of a wintry, slushy, snowy mess. There’d been a lot of talk yesterday about a storm coming across Pennsylvania and slamming into central and northern New Jersey.

I stumbled out of bed at 6:00 as usual. I smelled the coffee brewing, thank god for timers, and went to look out the window.

Hmm… no snow. No ice. No rain. In fact, nothing at all. Guess there will be school today, huh?

I double checked the situation with Weather.com and News12.com – just in case there was a blizzard raging twenty miles north of me at school. No such luck.

I went about getting ready and left for school as usual.

Why is the Parking Lot So Empty?

I pulled into the parking lot at 7:05 and I thought, “Why is this place so empty?”

It’s typically pretty sparse around that time, since the first class doesn’t start until 8:00. However, there are usually a handful of cars around – the early security guard, a secretary, and a couple of other early rising teachers.

Today, there was one other car in the parking lot. I shut off my car, gathered my belongings, and prepared to go inside. I was supposed to fill out some paperwork this morning – warning notices – so I was determined to get to work, even if everyone else wanted to show up late.

As I started heading towards the building, someone climbed out of the other solitary car.

“You know school’s closed today?”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, they closed school.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No. Didn’t you get a phone call?”

“No…”

Over the next few minutes, this teacher convinced me that school had indeed been canceled. At first, I was a bit leary and thought it was a joke. I didn’t recognize the teacher – he lives on the first floor and I live on the fourth, so we rarely (or never?) cross paths.

However we tried the front door, and then somebody else drove by and said they had just gotten a call from the snow chain that school was closed. Oh well.

And so, I climbed back in my car, I sipped my coffee, and I hit the road again. I tried calling the main office, to no avail, and although there was some nagging doubt in my mind I was pretty convinced that school was closed. When I got home, News 12 and the school’s website both confirmed it.

I suppose this would be a good reason to have a nifty new phone with internet access. Doh.

If things had gone according to plan, I’d be sitting in my room right now. The students would be taking a test to wrap up a topic before we headed on break. We’d probably be listening to some Jimi Hendrix or Bob Marley.

Instead, I’m at home, writing this post, thinking only one thing. “Where’s my phone call?”