snow day!

Ahh, the joy of working in a school in the winter. The roads didn't really seem all that bad, but I'm not complaining. They even called off school in the town I grew up in, where they NEVER closed school, unless maybe there was a street gang waiting out front to kill us all. And even then we'd probably only get a two hour delay. When you grow up in the suburbs, you learn how to handle thugs.

So they have this thing called a phone tree, and if school gets cancelled, somebody calls somebody who calls someday, etc. etc. until the entire staff gets called. When I first heard about this I thought it was kind of dumb because we all grew up listening to the radio to hear about cancellations, so why do we need somebody to call us? But okay, if that's how it works. I'm at the end of this "tree" because I'm a new employee, so I don't have to call anyone, I'm just a call receiver. A woman named Paula, who is a teacher's aide for some of the kids I work with, is the one who is supposed to call me. This morning, my phone rang at 4:45 AM. I honestly have no idea what I said to Paula. Usually, the phone ringing will wake me right up. I must have been in some crazy R.E.M. pattern because I didn't really understand what that noise was or what I was supposed to do to make it stop. When I finally snapped to semi-consciousness, I had what could have only been an absurd conversation with this poor woman. I remember asking her if she'd called me earlier. (What?) I remember her laughing. Tomorrow I'll have to tell her that's about what she can damn well expect every snow day. I like my sleep, people. But actually, I don't mind her interrupting it. If you want to call me at some obscene hour and tell me that I don't have to go to work, then God love you, here's my number.