Snow days among favorite school memories

What’s your favorite memory from school? With the recent weather in eastern New Mexico I’m reminded of my favorite memory: the snow day.

I’d sit around the house all day, playing video games and watching reruns of “Saved by the Bell.” And if I felt like braving the elements, I’d go sledding with my best friend and next door neighbor.

These days were fantastic and glorious.

But a lot has changed with snow days for the current generation of students. The change I can’t get over is how they find out about school cancellations.

I went to school in the 1990s — in a time when Nirvana dominated the music scene and “Goosebumps” books ruled the library shelves — and back then you had to tune in to a local television station or listen to the radio to find out if school were canceled.

Today’s generation checks their cell phone, and finds out via text message, email, or Facebook status update.

Of course none of this compares to my grandparents, who simply donned another layer of clothing and walked five miles to school uphill in both directions.

My grandpa grew up on a rural farm in Minnesota during the 1920s. And when I asked him if he ever had a snow day growing up, he laughed at the notion.

“We had plenty of snow days,” he scoffed. “And we walked to school like it was any other day.”

He then said that after he got home, he still had to milk the cows and collect the eggs from the chicken coop.

Life was a lot harder back then.

This begs the question, how will our children’s children find out about a snow day when they’re in school?

Will they have a computer chip implanted in their brain, waking them up if there is school or allowing them to sleep in if there isn’t?

Perhaps they will still use tools like Facebook and Twitter to get the message out. I can see the status update now: “All schools are closed for the day. #noschool #sleeplonger #seeyoutomorrow”

Whatever changes there are, I’m sure I’ll feel the same way my grandpa felt about my generation.

I can picture my grandkids sitting on my lap as I tell them, “Back in my day we had to get out of bed, brave the cold from the bedroom to the family room, and watch the television to see if school was canceled.”

Things were so much harder, I’ll think to myself. These kids don’t know how good they have it.

Kitsana Dounglomchan, a 12-year Air Force veteran, writes about his life and times for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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