Let me go down my handy “The World Is About To End Checklist” for just a moment: 1. New Orleans Saints win the Super Bowl. Check. 2. Someone makes a million dollars off of simply turning a bathrobe around and calling it a “Snuggie.” Check. 3. 49 states have snow on the ground at the same time. Check.

It was the third item on my checklist that really got me feeling nervous about the current state of our world and just how much time we have left. At this point, I will stop making fun of those on TV saying the world is about to end and become even more nervous about the fact the Mayan calendar ends in 2012.

Just this week, each place I have lived in the past 10 years has seen a record snowfall. There was Frisco, Texas, which saw nearly a foot of snow — a record. There was Silverhill, Ala., which saw — well let’s just say they saw snow — a record. There were Clanton, Ala., and Alexander City, Ala., which each received more than three inches of snow — a record.

And then there’s my latest home, in Suffolk, which received one of the heaviest snowfalls in the last two decades. Perfect.

Again, the fact that each state — and there was even a chance Hawaii would have snow at its highest point — had snow on the ground at the same time, gave me a moment of pause.

Combined with the fact that the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, the snowfall records have got me in something of a mild panic. Has Hell truly frozen over?

As for the Saints, their victory also gave me some belated privileges owed to me by my father.

Growing up in south Alabama, we were lucky enough to be in a television market that was shared between the Atlanta and New Orleans sports teams, meaning, if it wasn’t the Saints game on TV it was the Falcons. And, let’s just say neither of them had the strongest track records. As a result, I am a Cowboys fan.

But my father would always use the Saints and their chance at winning a title as a way to keep us from doing something. For example, I might ask, “Dad, can we move my curfew back to 1 a.m. tonight?” His response, “When the Saints win the Super Bowl.”

Which easily translated into “no.”

Then there were his students. As a high school English teacher for 30-plus years, he at times was asked to extend a deadline or allow a student time to go to the restroom. Many times, his response was “When the Saints win the Super Bowl.” Again, a clear “no.”

As the Saints were just minutes away from defeating the Colts in the Super Bowl, I called my father and asked “Dad, can I stay out later tonight?” “Yes,” was the quick reply.

Come to find out he’s had to extend a lot of due dates for papers, and I think he still owes my sister and increase in her allowance.

Tim Reeves is editor of the Suffolk News-Herald. He can be reached at 757.934.9611 or at tim.reeves@suffolknewsherald.com