Missing a Snow Day
Can I create one even without snow?
The first big snowstorm hit NYC right after Christmas. While New Yorkers woke up to over 4 inches of snow, I sat in the lobby of the Limelight Hotel in Boulder, Colorado, doing my 1,000 words for the day before walking to a CorePower Yoga class in 42-degree weather.
I love a weather event in New York because everybody starts enacting contingency plans as if the turbulent weather will last for days. All plans must be canceled. All grocery bills must be at least $400. All puzzles must come out of the closet. We will apparently consume five times as much food as we do on any given day, but we will have zero ideas on how to entertain ourselves in traditional ways. The frenetic energy leading up to the snowstorm is soon replaced with a lazy energy when you wake up to the snow with nowhere to go but your living room.
When I’m “trapped” at home for a day, I feel freedom in the big stretch of unplanned hours. I can read an entire book. I can make that batch of cookies that requires 3 hours of dough chilling. I can clean out my closet. For the 16 hours or so that I am awake, time does not exist. There are no checkpoints throughout the day. Even meal times are slower. I have the luxury of simply beginning something, not knowing how long it will take me, and not needing to know either.
If I were in NY for the storm, I would have:
Read one of my paperback books from start to finish, in my wingback chair in my bedroom
Sorted through all of the top shelves of the office closet, making more storage space available
Planned and booked at least one 2026 trip
Watched a movie starting at 4 PM
Of course, I was happy to be in Colorado, hopeful to get some skiing in, which I did, with plans to do a puzzle, which I didn’t do, read a book, three actually, and watch movies, none actually. But I’m a little sad to miss a trapped Saturday inside, connecting with my home, my partner, and myself for hours at a time. No demands, no responsibilities, no clocks needed.
What I know though is that I can trap myself if I want to. I can create space for a day of no demands. I can clear the decks of responsibilities and opt for a day where anything can happen. I just have to choose it.