Take a Break!!!

I just got back from a run. The wind is gusting at least 20 miles per hour and it sucks. I tried to run with the wind at my back most of the time, but any half-way intelligent person clearly knows that at some point, I was going to have to turn into that wind. When I did, I felt like a whale swimming in mud. The only thing I could do was try to distract myself, bury myself deep in thought, to try to block out the fact that I was running but getting no where.

As most mothers do, I thought about things going on with Sam. He greeted me yesterday morning, early of course, by whispering "Happy Spring Break" in my ear. Aaahhhh, spring break. It means so many things to many different people, depending on your stage in life. Just the words spring break give such a sense of freedom, hope, and, dare I say, laziness? It got me to thinking about how I've spent spring break over the years.

When my sister and I were little kids, we spent all of our time outside of school at Grandma Alf's house. She was in no way related to us, but was Grandma nonetheless. That woman could peel an entire apple with a paring knife without ever lifting the knife from the apple, ending up with a perfect coil of apple peel and the most deliciously peeled apple. She also introduced us to the best soap of all time, Days of Our Lives. This show influenced many years of spring break. It also leads a girl to wonder how much work Deidre Hall has had done to continue Marlena's ageless character all these years.

As we got older, we stayed home for spring break. There was always a miserable list of chores that included raking pebbles out of the ditch that the snowplow had put there over the winter. But, as dutifully vain teenage girls would, we donned bikinis for the dreaded task in order to begin work on our tans. Never mind it was only 54 degrees and the wind was likely gusting as it is today. There was the necessary noon break for Days and the yet unchanged Marlena. In the afternoon, we moved our bikinis out to lawn chairs in the backyard, shielded from the wind, where we ate Hostess Cupcakes and drank Mountain Dew without gaining a pound. Now, those were the days.

Probably the most memorable spring break for my sister and I was the year I was a freshman in college. She was still in high school and I was allowed to accompany her on the Spanish Club trip to Mexico. It was our first "sister vacation"; a whole week away from our parents, with very little supervision. There were a few spats. I wouldn't share my money when she had spent all of hers, typical. She smoked cigarettes in the hotel bathroom at the risk of getting sent home immediately if she had been caught. We both endlessly flirted with boys. Big surprise there.

I haven't had a spring break like that since 1994. Responsibilities started showing up. School, work, a house to take care of. But now I have discovered, OH JOY, spring break still exists!!! Starting with a "Happy Spring Break" whispered in my ear, we have already had a bike accident, an Easter Egg Hunt, and way too much junk food. And it's only Day 2!!!

So that's what occurred to me as I pushed through the wind, along with a few random thoughts. Did you know that Will I. Am's favorite Black Eyed Peas song is Boom Boom Pow? Could anyone possibly love avocados as much as me? Did you know that my parents actually moved to Florida? They really did! This is not just an extended vacation.

So, you can guess where I'm headed for spring break. Sam is beaming with excitement. And I get another chance to spend a free week in the sunshine with my sister. There won't be any bikinis, at least not on me. There probably won't be any flirting. I'm even pretty sure there won't be any Days, but I could likely turn it on and Marlena would look exactly the same. But it will be a real, actual spring break. And I feel like a kid again!!!