To be a kid again

There are mornings that I can count on Sylvain to sleep in until the early afternoon and then there are mornings when he's up long before the crack of dawn in anticipation of what's to come. The former is to be expected during the weekend, on holidays, and on days when school is cancelled the previous evening. The latter is reserved for Christmas and those special days when school should be cancelled, but the call has yet to come through.

Sure, one can argue that he has a more vested interest than 90% of his classmates, since he has an early morning class (starts at 6:50, daily) and, really, why bother getting ready for school when you KNOW in your heart of hearts it should be cancelled? But to him, there's nothing like wrapping up in a blanket and flipping on the TV, eagerly anticipating our county then our community's name to scroll through the multitude of schools already announcing closure.

First, disappointment sets in when Holt, a handful of Lansing schools, then Mason scroll by and are followed immediately by a place that he's never heard of: White Pine Academy. Then, comes the robo-call from the superintendent herself. Every phone begins to ring almost simultaneously: land line and cell phone alike. He doesn't need to listen to the message, he knows the drill; the call came, so the day is now his!

Oh, the wonders of technology! Why even bother to participate in this now out-dated ritual of rising to watch the morning news with its roller coaster of emotions as it cycles through the schools that have made it on The List?!?

Now that the deed is done, he lumbers back to bed with the smugness of one that does not need to rise again until at least noon. Ah, the good life......