Here in the Midwest, we’ve been socked with snow. On every news channel is a warning: Stay indoors. Stay off the roads. Schools are closed, businesses are closed. I expect that the Post Office will not deliver mail today unless they have a team of mushers.

So what do you do with a snow day, a day just like every other, but one in which you are NOT in control of your destiny?

I’ll tell you what I did. I’ve lived in climates where 2 feet of falling snow is nothing. So my plan of attack was to gain back control, forget what they say on the news. I have places to go, people to see.

It took me 15 minutes to evaluate the situation before acknowledging that in my little battle of Man vs. Nature, Nature won. Apparently, 18 inches of snow is misleading. The wind likes to push snow into little cubby holes like every corner and nook of my house. It took me 15 minutes to swing open my storm door. And even if I could clear the rest of the snow to free my car, the snow plow that just passed in front of my drive deposited what looks to be an 8 foot wall in front of my car. Okay, maybe more like 5 feet. But does it matter? My car doesn’t have wings.

So…plan B. I can’t control the snow. It’s not within my magical powers to remove the snow. I’m trapped. So what is plan B?

If you are having a snow day, you probably had some early warning, too. Maybe you planned to work from home if the roads were bad. Maybe you stayed up a little late last night knowing you could sleep in. Perhaps you’re eyes are still closed since through the night you heard the gale force winds howling outside.

When you wake up and get a cup of coffee in you, what’s next? You can try to eat your liver first, by that I mean shoveling yourself out. Hope you’re hungry. There’s a lot of liver … ur … snow on the ground. Or you can log in and get some work done in case you have some urgent items to check off your to-do list.

But maybe you can take a little time to savor your snow day. If you have kids at home who are snowed in with you, maybe you can build some memories with some finger-paints, construction paper, glue and glitter. Yes, they’ll make a mess. And for weeks to come you’ll have coworkers picking small flecks of glitter off your face. But that’s what makes memories.

If you don’t have kids, maybe you can sip your coffee by the window and vicariously enjoy the purity of the snow, how it manages to make even the dirtiest ground or flattest land magical and bright.

If you’re stranded at home with your significant other, perhaps you can bring him or her coffee in bed. Try to remember why you’re with this person and what you have to be grateful for during the unexpected blessing of your snow day. And if you’re really lucky, he or she will let you control the remote.

How will you use your snow day? If you don’t have a snow day today, how would you use an unexpected gift of a free day?