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The Return Of Ten-Word Tuesday.

snowy-window2

174, 176, 219, 331, 335, 381, 406, 422…

This is Bossy standing by the window when she was a girl, and those numbers represent the school closings being read over the transistor radio in her family’s kitchen.

Except Bossy’s childhood window included a floor to ceiling view from the 19th floor, and the radio in the kitchen was probably a JVC boom box, but you know where Bossy is going with this. Just like you know it won’t be worth the fare or time to get there.

Anyway. Standing there, attention diverted by the nasal drone of the broadcast, there was nothing like the crushing disappointment of having your school’s number skipped over — just like there was no better feeling than hearing that number, because you could go back to bed! Except you never really went back to bed because of all that frosty adrenaline and the promise of a distended cookie dough stomachache.

Which is what today’s Ten-Word Tuesday is all about. In exactly ten words, can you tell Bossy about your favorite childhood snow day memory?

And be sure to check back later today for the flakiest snow day stories on the web.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  35. Since I was born and raised in Louisiana I only remember one snow day as a child. There were barely enough snow to cover the ground. The kid next door, Bud, worked so hard to make a snowman. He started with a little ball of snow and rolled that over every inch of the yard he could to pick up enough snow to make a scraggly snow man….

    Coco

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  50. Boston, BLIZZARD OF ’78! No driving allowed for several days.

    P.S.
    #20 SCARES me. Should Bossy report that?

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  57. My school rarely closed for snow, it had to be a blizzard of biblical proportions. But, during the Holloween week of my 7th grade year, my last to dress up and trick-or-treat, the snow fell and fell and fell. School closed for 4 days! in a row, and the car we rode in to secure the candy loot (rural living is quite different from the burbs) got stuck in the snow twice.

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  114. I forgot about those numbers!!!! Grew up in Pa (think our magic number was 155!!!). Here in Va a snow day is so rare that they just say the school name. What a great memory.
    79 was a great year for snow though!

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  116. Pathetic stick-and-leaf covered Oklahoma snowmen. No snow left on lawn.

    Frozen pond. Twirling snow shovel thrill ride powered by Daddy.

    (We had bread bags on feet and hands too!)

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  118. Fireplace. White bear skin rug. Mugs of steaming hot rich cocoa thickly topped with marshmallow cream. Favorite Book. Husband home early–hey that’s today!

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  120. 60’s in NJ: many: building forts, wet socks, hot cocoa.

    Adult: 24″ Blizzard of ’82 in STL, X-C skiing to get Sunday newspapers for neighbors, stuck till Thursday w/ grad school beau at home, peanut butter cookies.

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  124. The ice storm of 76 (was it?) sliding downhill on my blue piece of rolled up plastic sled.

    (Ya, ya, that was more than ten…will bossy sue me?)

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  140. Seriously Bossy, are you messing with your Aussie peeps?

    Worst heatwave in HISTORY we are going through and you talk about SNOW?

    Cruel Bossy. Very cruel.

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  150. I grew up in Los Angeles, so no snow days for me as a kid. But when I was a teacher, the absolute BEST snowday was really a snow week and a half. The blizzard of 78. I was in northern MA on the New Hampster border. I was sick with the flu all weekend and stayed home on Monday when it started to snow. By Tuesday we were snowed in. By Wednesday our town had 55″ of snow on the ground. You read that right. I could not get the door open, the snow was above the first floor windows, and I had a couple of dogs that NEEDED to be out. So I called the police who called the coast guard (right down the street from me, at the oldest coast guard station in the country) who came and dug my door out. The dogs went out, but they only had a path to and from the door to the curb. The street wasn’t plowed for a week. The neighbors all came out and shoveled a nice big path so we could at least walk to the bars. That was the only thing opened. We cross country skied everywhere. It was wild!

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  162. Oh, dear. The words “favorite” and “snow” never find themselves in my mouth at the same time. That’s why I fled the Adirondacks and moved to Hawai`i… where I am now typing this wearing wool sox, fingerless gloves, and a heating pad in my lap. Yes, it’s winter in Hawai`i, too!

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  180. Child: Blizzard of ’78, no power, fireplace, quilts, cup-a-soup, HUGE drifts.
    Adult: Level 3 Snow Emergency, Office closed, good book, ah, relaxing.

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  181. PS — 172 reminds me of a story my Granddad told about his one room school house. Snow clogged the pipe of the Franklin stove, it blew up and coal dust coated everything, including the kids! They got several day off till the stove could be replaced.

    Reply

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