Where I live in New Jersey got hit with a snowstorm yesterday and last night I was told that my job is having a snow day. I feel the exact same joy I did when I was a kid. Except that unlike when I was a child, I’m getting paid for staying home in my pajamas all day.

When I worked in the pharmacy, this would be much different. I worked at a long term pharmacy, which made me into an essential worker. So, no matter the weather, I had to go in. This job was never worth it.

It usually meant that I would have to go to one of the hotels that was in the same corporate park as my job. I would stay over through Saturday so that I could go to work on Monday. Just me, bored in a hotel room, trying not to lose my goddamn mind. Rationing out canned food because they refused to pay for meals for us. It was a miserable existence. This is far superior. It’s nice that they actually care enough about us to let us stay home after this mess.

On Friday, my boss and I were talking about the blizzard of 1996, where the skies dumped 20-30 inches on my hometown. I was ecstatic to have that much snow to play in. I remember digging a tunnel into the snow. It was a lot of fun. At a certain point, my tabby, Killer, came into the tunnel with me. We were hanging out, until I felt something shift. I remember being scared so I pushed Killer out of the hole. It was then that my tunnel collapsed and I was buried in snow. I had a few moments to think about it when a pair of strong arms jammed themselves into the snow and pulled me out.

My father told me he had been watching from the window when he saw the cat fly out of the hole that it was time to come get me. He decided that I had had enough snow for the day and it was time to hang out with him and we watched Dirty Harry. It was a good day and I hope that other kids are going to get a snow day today and to have fun. Those kind of memories are important.