As a Matter of Principle

As a matter of principle and upbringing (remember, I grew up in the late fifties/early sixties), I do not wear blue jeans to work.  Unless it is a snowy day and deep in my heart I believe we should be closed.

This morning's snow seemed to take everyone -- the school administrators, the highway department, even the weather-guessers themselves -- by surprise.  Joe and Blackberry got out and pushed snow around while I made some oatmeal, but by the time they came back in, the first area they'd cleared was already thick and white again.

As an independent school, we have students from about twenty different school districts, and each district provides transportation for its students in its own buses.  Sometimes separate buses for separate divisions of the school.  On the rare occasion when the weather fools everyone and schools open when they really shouldn't, early dismissals occur and chaos ensues as we begin to get phone warnings from the transportation office, "Springfield is closing at 11:00," and then "Upper Dublin has arrived for Lower School," and so on.  Excitement among the students builds, and Upper School student drivers phone home, begging their parents to call and have them dismissed early "for safety reasons."  The ensued chaos then reigns, as we finally decide that we, too, will close early, and parents must be notified.

This morning had all of the makings of a dreadful day.  Still does, in fact.  But when I got out my blue jeans, I found $5.75 in the pocket!  I told my self to think back on that when the call comes that "Bryn Athyn's buses will be here at 11:15."

Then I put them on.  And they were a little bit too big.