Susan Senator

Total whiteout outside. Last night we heard we were going to get 8″ – 12″ of snow and by evening, our superintendent had already canceled school. This was a very good thing, I felt, because I had made a terrible glitch on Nat’s calendar: I had thought that today was MLK day, because actually tomorrow is MLK’s real birthday (Happy Birthday, Martin! I wish he were still alive. I remember when he was shot. I was in kindergarten and the principal announced it on the loudspeaker. I remember thinking, “But I thought we don’t have a king!” And indeed, we no longer did.).

So I had written, “No School, Martin Luther King Day.” And yesterday, Nat kept insisting that there would be no school tomorrow because of that. I went over to his calendar to show him that MLK Day is next week, but there, in my chicken scrawl, it said, “No School, Martin Luther King Day” on today! D’oh, D’oh, D’oh! Addled Mommy strikes again! No amount of apologizing would change Nat’s mind or attitude. He was hopping mad about it. I even rewrote it on his calendar, in the correct space, and he picked up the pen, and crossed it out, saying, “NOOOO.”

Nevertheless, Nat had a terrific time at the MLK tournament (yes, MLK, another reason I was confused!). He is a great team member, provided you don’t require your team members to either catch the ball or throw the ball. But if you want a team member who is always where the action is and smiling his face off, Nat is your man.

He will run and run and run,
His face shining like the sun
up and down the court,
Among those boys he is short!
Arms in the air,
Completely without a care
He is Basketball Man
Though nary a ball gets in those hands.

His candle goes out when he is called out. He hates sitting back down.

And so, I woke up at 4:17 a.m. thinking of snow and Nat. I looked outside and the street was black with rain. “Stupid!” I muttered, about Superintendent Chicken Little (whom I actually hired, and whom I like, in reality).

But then, while sleeping a little more,
I thought I heard a distant roar
that was — for once — not my Ned’s snore.
And I knew that the plows were coming, for sure.

When I looked out the window, a gorgeous heavy snow was falling. Nat came down fully dressed as if it were a holiday. To us, it is.