Ten Reasons to Embrace the Storm

I’m hearing a mixture of reports from my friends, clients, and family on whether or not everyone is looking forward to or dreading the arrival of “historic blizzard of 2015”.

I’m going to against the grain and embrace this.  I’m excited.  I’m looking forward to it.

Before you call me crazy, let me plead my case:

embracestorm

  • Sleeping In.  The oldest and I get up at 5:45 for him to catch the bus at 6:30 on week day mornings.  We both hate it.  There’s something about getting up before 6:00 that just doesn’t agree with either of us.
  • Paid Snow Day.  I know I’m in the lucky few that has this benefit.  I work for a pediatric clinic and we close when local schools close.  Every year I get a small number of paid snow days.  There’s nothing like staying home all day and knowing you are getting paid.
  • Kitchen Renovation.  It’s awfully hard to get through a kitchen renovation when you both work full-time.  An extra day before our housewarming party to work on this really makes me excited.
  • More Rest Time.  I’ve been dealing with this nasty head cold for about six days now.  I wouldn’t mind another day away from all the kids I work with for me to get better.
  • Snow Shoes.  I wrote about this in my New Year’s Resolution post.  I bought us all snow shoes a couple years ago and I’m ashamed we haven’t ever tried them out once.  I’m thinking this might give us a chance to….though we might get blown away, so they may have to wait until Wednesday or later.
  • Fireplace.  This will be our first big blizzard with a source of heat that isn’t dependent on electricity.  That makes me feel so much more secure!
  • Functional Exercise.  I’m not one to exercise, I should, but I don’t.  But there’s no getting around having to shovel.  So blizzard equals me getting healthier, because I HAVE to shovel, therefore exercise.
  • Baking.  There’s nothing like baking up a storm in a storm (see, what I did there?).  I have everything I need to whip up some peanut butter cookies and black bean brownies to make up for all those calories we burn shoveling and snow shoeing.
  • Mandatory Family Time.  As a working Mom and splitting up our every other weekends with the boys’ father, I really do look forward to time when all four of us are together without an agenda (yes, husband, I am declaring that it is unsafe for you to drive to work tomorrow as well).  It doesn’t happen enough.
  • The Sense of Wonder.  Brian hasn’t lost that sense of wonder of a storm.  There is just something about watching him watch snow come down in spirals and being blown all around.  He uses language we don’t hear that often and he gets so excited with his nose pressed against the glass.

Yes, we might get cranky if we lose power for longer than a day.  And yes, the boys might get annoyed with each other and I might wish for quiet after just a couple of hours of playing.  Yes, I will long for the beach and may stare a little too long at old vacation pics while I’m warming my frozen toes by the fire.  But for the most part, we’re going to hunker down like Mainah’s do and make the best of the blizzard.

Stay safe and warm everyone!

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For a good laugh go check out The A-Word’s facebook page to see my husband’s tales of woe from going to the grocery store right before the big blizzard!

Heather Nelson

About Heather Nelson

Heather resides in Rockland where she is busy juggling life as a newlywed, a mom to two boys (one of which who has autism), a part time job in direct sales, and a full-time job as a pediatric occupational therapy assistant. She has a love for live music, karaoke, and cheering on the underdogs.