Native Wyomingites know better than anyone that life is still manageable even with inches upon inches of snow on the roads, along with blustering wind and chilly temperatures. Schools rarely close in Wyoming, as most of us know. In fact, I think I have had maybe two snow days since I began school at age five. This excludes college, where I can declare my own snow days, but that’s really just me ditching class and using snow as an excuse. I currently commute from Cheyenne to Laramie for school and usually brave the weather no matter the degree, but Tuesday was the worst weather conditions of the semester so far. I decided to skip my morning class. My professor told me Monday night that she would “understand” if I didn’t make it. I skipped class in hopes of the weather maybe clearing up, but my optimism proved wrong, as the weather only got worse. So I waited and waited, watching my car disappear under a mound of snow in just half an hour, but my waiting ultimately turned into me making a difficult judgment call: no commute for me, and that means no school. As odd as it may sound, even fake perhaps (especially if my professors happen to read this) I was prepared and rather excited for school. I always suffer from some degree of guilt when I skip class, even if for a valid reason, my life would basically have been in jeopardy while crossing over the summit. I must say, snow really grinds my gears.
It’s pretty amazing how much weather affects our lives. Obviously gigantic natural disasters are on a whole different level than a few inches of snow, but snow can still be pretty serious. Yesterday in Colorado, all of the schools and state buildings in the Denver area closed and Coloradoans enjoyed a declared, official, and legitimate snow day. If only it were that simple here in good ol’ Wyoming; local government offices in Cheyenne started closing around 2 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, and Laramie County Community College even closed! I suppose commuting allows an “excuse” to stay home when it snows, but having a real snow day declared carries some weird proverbial magic with it. The excitement and drama attached to snow days is described well in that Nickelodeon movie from the ‘90s, Snow Day: the anxiety one suffers while awaiting to hear school closures, and the rush of adrenaline experienced when you hear your school is closed for the day, then all of the fun, hood-rat stuff you can do with your friends; like sledding and starting violent snowball fights, and ending the day by defeating the evil snow plow truck driver, so as to have a second snow day in a row. How awesome would it be to have two snow days right in a row? But all of us in Wyoming are lucky to get half a snow day, like yesterday.
No need to feel jealous that I had a “snow day” yesterday, while you were probably trudging all across campus with freezing fingers and heavy snow boots, my day wasn’t completely filled with relaxing activities. I did some homework, I did the dishes, I wrote this article, and I got to spend the evening listening to my roommate’s high-pitched, outrageous, and inappropriately loud laugh that echoes throughout my house, and she laughs at stuff that isn’t even a little bit funny, and she laughs at everything, I don’t get it. But I only have one semester left of school before I graduate, which means I won’t get to have many more snow days to enjoy. Maybe some young-ish child will defeat the evil snowplow men today using brute snowball fighting force, and we will have a full snow day tomorrow! But, that is perhaps just wishful thinking fictionalized by a movie, we live in Wyoming, snow days don’t happen here, duh!
