Snow Daze

We all got stranded at home today, due to a snowstorm hitting NJ. It was not really that bad, but these 'amateurs' in Monmouth closed all the schools. Remember, we came from Sussex County NJ, where they judged closing schools based on number of feet of snow. Under 1 foot: delayed opening; over 1 foot: they'd delay the opening and see how the roads were to see if they'd close them!

I don't know about where you were brought up, but for Linda and I, we had a completely different experience with the 'administration' of snow days compared to the present. Way back in the 20th Century (he said in his shaky old man voice), when we were kids, they'd blow the sirens in the town at a certain time; if you heard the sirens, no school. In my hometown, we had a 'whistle' about two blocks from our house (to get a smile out of my sibs, it wasn't really a whistle, it was more a BAAAAAP), and you were not going to miss that sound. But even if you did, you could listen to the radio for hours to hear YOUR school called out, or you could dial and redial the school number until you got through to hear "School is closed" o the answering machine.

Now flash forward to the MODERN WORLD. A MODERN WORLD of automated phone dialing and messages. Let's call EVERY parent out there and inform them first hand. While that's great for John and Jane Q Public with John Jr in middle school, it's a decidedly different experience for us multi-handicapped (translate: children) families. Top that off with the fact that we're in 4 different schools with the 5 kids, and our house sounds like a radio call in show in the early morning on snow days.

First call comes in at 5:11, it's the 'main mom' from Livie's class, starting the phone chain to call the other parents on the list. 5:14- the first of the automated school calls comes in. While Linda is looking for the list, the second auto-call comes in at 5:16. She begins getting the task of calling the other parents, the fourth call comes in at 5:21 "Yea, I know, can you take me off your list, I'm a dialmom too" Grace's class chain mom-o-mater is informed by Lin. Then the comedy starts. Auto-call #1 from Jason's school fails to make a full connection at 5:25. Aly's auto-school call comes in at 5:27; then a second call from the misfiring automaton at 5:28. Then the final Jason call gets through at 5:31 with full message regalia.

8 inbound calls and 6 outbound calls later, do you THINK we know that schools closed? Thank the MODERN WORLD and it's technology, everyone in the house is awake and informed...