Snow Day!

It's April, and mothers everywhere are a hot mess. OK, maybe not all mothers; maybe it's just those of us who have kids in school. And maybe it's not everywhere, but it's certainly everywhere I'm looking.

April is the beginning of the end. We're rounding the corner of the home stretch. There's a light at the end of the school-year tunnel. It's faint and there are a hundred obstacles between here and there, but just knowing it's there encourages us onward. But the final stretch is almost always the hardest. We break out into a sweat as 3:00 arrives, knowing it's a dead sprint until bedtime. We live out of our cars and eat out of crockpots and drive-thru's. We shiver through soccer games, baseball games, and track meets. We fix hair and tune instruments and drive, drive, drive to rehearsals, concerts, and recitals. We pack sack lunches for field trips and clear our schedules to chaperone them. We throw birthday parties and buy presents for other people's kids. We take in treats to keep the teachers encouraged. We feed and urge on the older kids studying for SATs and AP exams.We try to remember that we are wives and have some interaction with our husbands beyond who's picking up whom and please don't forget the cupcakes. We attempt to keep all this up while maintaining our own friendships, work obligations, fitness regimens, and spiritual disciplines.

(Yes, spring break was just last week, but "break" is an oxymoron when you spend 41 hours in the car with your children. Our time visiting colleges was productive, but there was no "break" involved, and certainly no recharging for the month of April.)

Then we wake up to snow. Lots of it. And the messages start rolling in. School cancelled. Meeting at work cancelled. Soccer cancelled. Track cancelled. Piano lesson cancelled. Band concert cancelled. The children who were scheduled to within an inch of their lives now get to spend the day building snow men in the yard. Everyone stays in their jammies. A party breaks out over cocoa and board games. Life as we know it has come to a screeching halt, and we can all stop and breathe.

I don't begin to claim to know how God works. But I think for harried mothers in states with erratic weather, He sends snow in April, His little present to remind us to slow down, actually enjoy our children, and focus on the goodness of this life.