Stand by, we'll be back with you in 14 hours...

The snow seemed neverending yesterday—big fluffy flakes. The plow truck got rid of the snow on our roads for a few minutes. But then it was covered again.

HCPSS Facebook post last night: Right now, we’re delaying schools by 2 hours. BUT we are waiting until 7:30 AM to tell you what we’ve REALLY decided.

Working mom & dad conversation on Monday night: What meetings do you have tomorrow? Can you cancel one? Uh, no, this is a really important meeting? Can you call in? Well, why can’t you call into yours? What if it’s a delay? Well, I can take her to before-care if it’s 1 hour late. Well, if it’s 2 hours, that’s going to be really tight to get to my client. Well, I guess your job is so much more important. But I don't have any vacation time left because this has been such a snowy winter. On-and-on, you can imagine it. I've worked for many bosses who didn't care about me having a kid. I'm lucky I don't have a boss anymore, but the stress still gets to me.

And then knowing it was going to be canceled, why not just say so?

While I was complaining at HCPSS’ lengthy delay to announce the closing, someone said they’re worried about making a mistake. I get that. We are out of snow days. But it was patently obvious from our drive around the Mall area last night that roads would not be ideal for walkers, buses, cars, tricycles, horse & buggy, etc. Maybe for skiers and Siberian husky driven sleds. When I drove on Twin Rivers Rd. at 11:15 AM to go to the Athletic Club on Harper’s Farm, it was in bad shape. Especially on bends in the road. It was slushy. When I returned home around 1 PM, it was much better. But that road provides access to a high school and a middle school. Not good, people.

The Board of Education needs to start planning for makeup days. In Virginia Beach, they decided to have a Saturday make-up day. Although people complained, 78% of kids showed up. I don't want the county to apply for a waiver from the 180 day requirement. That's cheating the kids and saying rules don't matter if you ask nicely. I want my daughter in school. And I want that school time to be productive, not half days where they sit down, get organized, get 20 minutes of instruction and then the bell rings to move to the next class. Learning takes time and a lot of kids don't reset as quickly as others. 

This is an election year for some of the Board members. There has been a lot of focus on them recently, in regard to teacher pay increases (lack thereof, actually) and potential changes to the instrumental music program. They need to have creative options for dealing with our missed days and furthermore, they must elicit community feedback. We're watching.
#HoCoblogs

Columbia's Main Street

My mall is sad.

There is tons of parking available most nights of the week.

It's easy to get a seat at popular restaurants with little wait.

Stores are easy to navigate.

There's no line at the carousel...because it's not operating.

This is the state of affairs 10 days after a seemingly unhappy young man shattered the bubble that we Columbians inhabit. The belief that we lived in a friendly, happy utopia where most crime was petty theft and "didn't happen to us." We are the community of "Choose Civility." (One twit on Twitter claimed "Does a possible love triangle gone wrong do enough damage to the choose civility brand that HoCo officials feel denial is the right approach?" I won't link to that because I'm disgusted by his feed.)

But it did happen. It seems random, although we'd feel better if it was explainable. The randomness, though, should not make us stop living life.

I was struck by this because when I arrived at one of the mall restaurants, I had my choice of tables. The group of 20-somethings with the loud, obnoxious guy who knows something about everything and pontificates on it continually wasn't there for their usual happy hour. There were 2 bartenders when I arrived and 1 was cut by 6:30. There were 2 servers when I arrived and again, 1 was cut by 6:30. A large restaurant was operating with 1 bartender and 1 server and a manager. Because no one was coming in. The manager decided on which bartender to keep because his rent is due. She decided on which server to keep because her car payment is due. The manager has been making decisions like that for the last 9 days. Because no one is coming in.

And this is for folks who weren't there that day and didn't witness or experience the terror and fear - because that is going to take time.

Please - come to Columbia Mall. Have lunch at Panera, see a movie, visit the new Athleta store. Meet friends for happy hour at Champps. Play trivia at Uno's. SPEND MONEY - support college kids who are working their way through school, support single moms who have a second job, support people who are working HARD and may lose their jobs if the situation doesn't improve.

Please - come to the mall.

#HoCoBlogs

Christmas Vacation Vegging

A friend’s Facebook posting yesterday made me feel guilty for what I’ve allowed my almost 10 year old to do a lot this vacation. Veg. Watch TV. 5 episodes of ANT Farm in a row in one morning. Headphones on watching Austin & Ally on her new iPod. We gave her the Disney Infinity Xbox game and my hubby & I played with her on that a little bit over the past few days. Oh, and Facetime with her oldest friend. (They gave each other tours of their houses…a little odd since they’ve been to each other’s house.)

But…

Ever since she was born, I’ve treated her as a person, not as a child. Meaning that people have different needs at different times. When she was an infant, we specifically messed with her schedule. The thing is, life doesn’t always happen as scheduled and learning how to adapt is important to my husband and me. Sometimes there's an accident closing down 95 and you have dinner an hour late. Stuff happens and the ability to adapt quickly to the situation is crucial. I also want her to say yes to opportunities that are outside her comfort zone. She has learned well and when confronted with a change of plans (whether from us or others), she acts just like my husband - a couple minutes to ruminate and she's on board. 

We started traveling with her at age 4 months - her first cruise on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas out of Baltimore. (Don't tell my Papa Bill - he thinks we've only been on 1 cruise without him...) She loves to travel and adjusts quickly to new challenges. We see so many parents that lock themselves in their house once the baby is born...that's not us.

For one thing...

Luke & I worked a lot. He moreso than I, so the demands of his schedule made me step back from my career. Although I don’t do it anymore, I worked 60 hours/week many times in my career. Granted, I’m an accountant and it’s not like I was saving lives in an emergency room. But I did have to be “on” and when I got free time, I enjoyed it. I needed down time. I needed to watch TV and distract myself. But we definitely had a "Work Hard, Play Hard" philosophy. 

Lil has worked hard for the past few months. She performs with Ballet Mobile, a non-profit classic ballet troupe that visits retirement homes and rehab centers to lighten the residents’ hearts. She practices for many hours each week. At school, she tries to help out teachers and other students. Luckily, she completes her homework quickly. But she’s doing a lot of above-grade level work and there’s a lot of pressure at school and she places a lot of pressure on herself to perform well. 

And sometimes we contribute to that...So…

I want her to chill out. She had one performance during the break, but no practices/classes. (Although she dances everyday regardless of venue…) But I wanted her to play with her new Christmas gifts and enjoy the lack of schedule. She embraced vacation – few expectations of her, apart from putting her breakfast bowl in the dishwasher. She got her first pedicure. She did crafty stuff like her rainbow loom. But she did watch a LOT of TV & worked on her YouTube search abilities for Disney Tween content. She danced to the music on the TV, set up little forts on the floor and the best was her sweet giggles when she laughed.

Today was a little different. We were cleaning the house, putting away laundry, preparing dinner and we only played 2 games of Clue with her. She had wanted to finish the gingerbread house and play Apples to Apples with us. When I told her it was time to finish her Facetime chat, she responded, “It’s only because you haven’t been playing with me.”

Which means…

Christmas vacation is over! (But possibly to be followed by a snow day on Friday!)