“Mom!”
“Are you done yet?”
“Can you stop yet?”
“We’re hungry.”
“We’re bored.”
“He hit me.”
“No I didn’t.”
“Why are you still working?”
“Do we have school tomorrow?”
And that and a nutshell is a snow day while working at home.
If you’ve ever worked from home you know that your day is nothing like working in a regular office. We are often at the computer earlier than our in-office counterparts. We type through lunch, because hey, no one can see you ungracefully shovel that warmed up lasagna into your mouth while you continue typing.
Home-based workers may tell you they actually get more work completed in a day than in an average office. There are no distractions. There is no office gossip. You don’t have to waste time matching your belt to your shoes before you head off for a lengthy commute that might make you late. You just sit down and work.
But on the flip side, when calamity traps our office counterparts in their homes, they are free for the day. Meanwhile we are left to muster through whatever nature sends. Last week the unthinkable fell: snow. And here on the Gulf Coast, where snow doesn’t happen, we had two snow days - in a row.
There was no fun, fluffy snow to play in. Just ice. There was no opportunity to go out and play for the day. Temperatures dipped below freezing and in the land of short shorts and flip flops, few of us keep scarves, gloves or even long pants at the ready.
We were all trapped inside, while I worked. Or tried to at least.
I stopped my typing every 10 – 15 minutes to open snacks, reload movies or dig out another craft from the emergency stash in the bottom of the closet. Cups were spilled, popcorn was burned, glitter was sprinkled. Everywhere.
By noon I had given up. I let my boss know I’d be back online after bedtime that evening to finish up. Turns out, she hadn’t lasted past 10 a.m., trapped in her own snow day hell of paste, play dough and diaper duty.
Working from home is great. I love it. I feel I’m more productive and less exhausted at the end of the week. But at the end of our unusual snow days, I’ve never been more thankful for the hardest workers I know, teachers.
