So Long Spring Break!
I had a great Spring Break. People always lament to me that my kids have a spring break the week after mine, how sad that must be, but I love it. As a mom, it’s rare to get time away from my kids at all. I like being around them and am hyper aware of how quickly this parenting young children deal is whizzing by at an alarming rate. As a teacher and mom, I’m surrounded by children all the time– and I wouldn’t change it! Seriously! I love being around children. Most of the time… But even chocolate gets tiring when you’ve had too much of it, and Spring Break is the freebie motherload of childless hours unlike any that I’ve ever experienced since giving birth 11 years ago. It’s like a week long date with my husband and I get to be a stay at home mom for a week and get to experience the joys of dropping off and picking up as well as trying to puzzle out the mystery of where the heck does that time fly during the hours when the kids are at school?! I swear, we just dropped them off and we are putting our shoes back on to go get them again. But I comment, often, that the drudgery and simplicity of this parenting gig is the best thing ever, a privilege. An honor I wouldn’t trade for anything. But this week is admittedly nice. 🙂
My goals for the week were pretty simple:
*Go to Costco and look through the office supplies to find the next cool thing (total bust)
Last year I got both a really inexpensive laminator and a beautiful washi tape dispenser with tons of tape during spring break. This year was significantly less inspiring with the yellow legal pads and sharpies. Woo hoo. Not.
*Go out to eat at least once:
I honestly didn’t think we were going to do this one. We are not people who go out to eat- the limitations of being vegetarians who insist of really healthy, low carb, low fat food choices, meaning not a veggie burger with fries, no mac-n-cheese, no fettuccine Alfredo and no cheese pizza, thankyouverymuch, which are generally the only choices for vegetarians in most restaurants. Add to that some anxiety surrounding going out and the cost of eating out and we generally reserve going out to eat for very unique, special situations for a total of about 2-4 times per year.
But yesterday Bradley surprised me by taking me to three restaurants- we bar-hopped for happy hours! I have NEVER EVER done that! I don’t generally drink so I was fairly sloshy after the first, incredibly delicious weizenbier but forged through to have another beer at a different place and a glass of wine at still a different place. The final restaurant was the same place we went for our anniversary last year and the food was still as good with fancy olives, yummy burrata, the most amazing cauliflower and delicious flatbread. But what was truly amazing was that we went on a date outside of our house to actual restaurants!
*Get crafty
I discovered smash books and am hooked. Smash books are just a way of free styling journaling that takes the small moments of day-to-day life including the artifacts one collects (receipts, ticket stubs etc.) and combines them all in an artistic, interesting, scrap booking kind of way. It beautifully integrates my desire to journal with my interest in scrapbooking and my artistic, creative sensibilities in a way that suits me unlike any other art projects or journal I’ve ever seen or tried to keep. I’m ridiculously excited about journaling during the spring and summer of this year. I decided not to be too strict on myself. If I forget to do a week or day or just don’t have the time to do it then I will just pick it up the next week and keep going. I also really like this because, in general, every time I’m scrapbooking or making cards or making any kind of product with paper, I’m always giving it away. This is one of the first times that I’m creating something that’s completely for myself, so that’s new and I’m really excited.
*Watch an entire TV series/season
I know. Lofty goals, right? But if I don’t include it then it won’t happen and I’ll be disappointed. So, I did this. I watched Season 4 of Louie, which I loved because I am one of the millions who think he’s funny and smart. I also got to thinking about Whitney Houston’s tragic life (idk why, I just live here) and watched three episodes of Being Bobby Brown as ‘research’. I wanted some trash tv and definitely found it. Sheesh. There are some windows one wishes they hadn’t looked through.
*Work out a bunch
I got really into the trail at St. Ed’s and got kind of obsessed with beating my times on it. Bradley commented to me, as we were cruising up some altitude this morning, about how hard I pull myself up that hill and how fast I go- he says I pull him along now. He remarked that it’s so nice to be so equally matched by me and even challenged, athletically, with me. I never thought I’d hear anyone say that, ever! What a compliment! We only missed two days of working out over the past nine days. I call that a success!
*Start Facebook group for work peeps
I’m including this here because I wanted to talk about how Facebook can be such a great tool for getting support. For me, it’s hard to crow to all 300+ of my community that I’ve done something. It just feels weird, and to do it daily is almost embarrassing for me. I just feel sensitive to that one person who really feels depressed and lost and despise updates from people like me…. Anyhow, I have one friend who started a support group for herself as she is trying to get over a weightloss and exercise plateau. She needs a push and accountability, so she carefully selected a small number of friends and invited us to be the people she brags and complains to. I started a similar page for my fish friends at work as another place where we can communicate, complain and crow about how our health focus is coming along.
*Play every day
I played hard in a bunch of different ways, and it was awesome. I had a great week! And now?
Summer break is a mere 9 weeks away! That means only nine more Fridays, nine more Mondays, nine more weeks to get everything done! Only nine more weeks to love on my second graders- and make no mistake- I love on ’em pretty hard, making saying goodbye in June a pretty tearful experience for me. It’s weird, we work so hard at building community, trust and relationships, then we let it go completely, every year, and start fresh. Sometimes it’s a blessing, sometimes a curse. I extra love these kiddos this year… But I think I say that every year! It’s true, though, something about them only being seven, eight and so full of wonder, still. It’s been a tough year, but a really special year. A year I’m not looking forward to letting go… So, many teachers and students return after break with a skip in their step and song in their heart that the next break looming ahead is the king mother of all breaks: summer! And I won’t lie, I’m looking forward to it, but it’s definitely bittersweet and I want to get as much quality learning and time in with my classroom kids. Cheers for a happy return and cheers for a lovely ending as this school year winds to a close!