I think hell just froze over. Yes, I decided that after looking out the window this morning at 5:35 a.m. No, I do not believe that my hometown is hell. At worst, it's more like purgatory. Actually, I did not really decide that hell had frozen over until after I looked at the television. It's not that life does not occur until they (the ubiquitous "they") report on it. It's more that the television was the way to dispense news of the really shocking event: Day's high school is closed on account of the blizzard outside.

I went and woke Day to tell her to turn off her alarm clock. I felt mean waking her to tell her not to get up but her alarm clock is complicated and I've never gotten my Day's alarm clock operator's license and I was afraid that it would be more disruptive to try to operate that alarm clock without it. She wasn't mad though. She was ecstatic! "Oh, my God!" she told me and gave a big hug. It takes a lot to overcome my foggy resistance to hugging in the morning but she was irresistible.

I might feel differently if I were my friend Mary, stuck in the house with younger children immediately after Thanksgiving and for several days running, but I'm glad. I'm not trekking into work myself. I decided to heed the warnings and I brought everything I need home. I don't have to shovel, at least not yet, and Kat is home. She's bound to get up eventually and she does not mind shoveling. Kat is highly cold weather hardy. Today that trait will be helpful.

And so, today promises to be just a little bit out of time. I'll work a bit, the girls will relax (and, if luck holds, not fight), we'll make hot chocolate, and we'll let it snow. The weather man says that the snow and blowing should end just around four o'clock or so which would be perfect. If that forecast is even close to correct, and those types often are, the roads should be clear by tonight after synagogue (for me and Kat) when we all need to drive over to Madison so I can teach at a seminar early tomorrow morning and the girls can visit friends.

Hell may have frozen over but what do I care? I'm in heaven.

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