The snow day that (almost) wasn't

I love the South. God thought enough of me to send me a Southern boy to marry, and I have lived more than half my life south of the Mason-Dixon. Lord willing, I hope to live out my days as a Southerner. I made sure my children were all born in the South, so they can claim full citizenship in the land of Dixie. And I truly adore most everything about the South: our idioms, country ham and grits, our lack of familiarity with turn signals, even our strange roadkill laws.

But Southerners have a collective phobia about the s-word. (You know, "s-n-o-w.") Saying the word is akin to yelling "fire" in a theatre - panic will ensue, so utter it at your own peril.

The possibility of snow has created a commotion here in middle Tennessee. Dozens of school districts announced closures last night, while the weather system was still hanging out in St. Louis. The evening news showed a run on milk - the Purity Dairy delivery guys were scrambling to keep up with demand. Bread was also disappearing off the shelves at an alarming rate.

The mere mention of the word sends chills up our spine - school children and their teachers have all their fingers and toes crossed, hoping for a snow day. Parents (and everyone else) apparently all plot a menu of milk and bread.

We awoke this morning to nary a trace of snow - not in the sky, not on the ground. There might be snow later today...we shall see.

Update as of 5 pm - indeed, it did snow today, enough to turn the ground white. Our Samoyed blended right in. And it got the kids out of school for another day. God bless the South.