Terrific Tuesday - Thank You, Mr. D!

Okay, could you sense the sarcasm dripping from that title? No? Well, fasten your seatbelts, folks. I have yet ANOTHER foolish story for ya. I have to warn you, it's going to be predictable, but bear with me...

Tuesdays are my carpool day. This means, I wake four peacefully sleeping cherubs (who instantly turn into vicious demons as soon as their eyes open) and whirlwind - yes, that's a verb - them into the car. I then head to the park & ride, where I add two MORE boys ("the Austins", actually one Austin and one Auston) to my brood. Can you do the math? That's SIX boys together in a car - at 7:25 in the morning. This particular morning went off pretty well, other than the fact that I did NOT want to get out of bed. I did NOT want to wake up the cherubs and get them dressed. I happened to glance out the window as I was walking across the hallway (open foyer) to get them, and noticed that there was a dusting of snow (I can hear the predictability bulb going off in your head) on the road. So, being a native Baltimorian, I freeze in my tracks, turn off the light and race back to my room in search of the remote. I turn on the news and stand there waiting for the delays to flash across the screen. There were like 3 schools opening late and a few closings (yes, folks, for a dusting - and I'm NOT exaggerrating!!!) Groan... and off I go to wake them up. The second I get in the car I turn on the radio. I make it to the park & ride a couple of minutes late - thank you, Mr. 1983 Ford truck, for going five miles UNDER the speed limit the entire way and missing those 2 green lights! The boys hop in my car (and by "hop" I mean gingerly climb up into their seats and start looking at toys and talking to my boys before even thinking to buckle their seatbelts.) And we're off... boy the roads are clear, gotta love election day. As we drive in, I hear that most of the Christian schools in the area are either closed, opening late, or closing early. There's a winter weather advisory for later in the day.

We pull into the school a full TWELVE minutes early. There's the security guard and one teacher pacing back & forth in front of the school. It's Auston's teacher. She walks up to my car ("Aw!" I'm thinking in my head, "She's going to come GET the Austins out of the car and WALK them into school!") Yeah, wrong. She walks up with a huge smile, with what looks like a hint of pity in her eyes. Still not registering in my brain. Down goes the window... "There's no school!" WHAT?! I had the radio on the ENTIRE way to school. They did NOT cancel it. Well, our school goes by the Baltimore County school system - which didn't HAVE school today because of the elections. Therefore, they were not listed in the "School Closings" on the major television or radio stations. Finally, at 8:07, when I was almost all the way back home, I heard on the radio "We are still getting calls about school closings. Greater Grace just called in to say they're closed today. Thank You, Mr. Principal! Those of us who need to leave about an hour before school starts at 8:15 in order to get there in time, could have used that call about TWO HOURS ago.