What I Did on Spring Break

When I was a kid, I always hated the "What I Did on Vacation" essays. Truthfully, I never thought what I did on vacation actually warranted an essay. My family wasn't exactly on the cutting edge of travel.

We usually managed to get to the country to watch the cows get milked, or watch my mom and dad help in tobacco. For me the exciting thing was having a calf suck on my hand, but it certainly would have been embarrassing to write about at school.

Sometimes, we went to the mountains, where I was afraid to gather eggs with my popaw and most of my cousins wet the bed, which is not a good thing when you happen to be the one assigned to share that bed.

When we were really feeling frisky, we'd go to Frankfort to see the floral clock or go to the Smoky Mountains to pay a one-armed man to feed a bear a pop.

Our one big vacation when I was little was a trip to the beach, where I slept all the way there in the back of the pickup (seriously, the back of the pickup) and my dad got sun poisoned. If I remember correctly, I think my dad's friend Charlie was killed as soon as we got home from that trip.

Anyway, our vacations weren't exactly what you read about in novels. This past spring break wasn't exactly earth shattering either from the outside looking in, but this one. . . it's something to write about.

What I Did on Spring Break
1. Ate with Will and Carly at Red Robin.
2. Colored Easter Eggs with Carly and Mom.
3. Flew a Kite with Carly and Dad.
4. Slept on a pull-out bed with Gracie.
5. Visited with a good friend who is currently in a nursing home.
6. Ate at Jucy's with Pam and Cathy.
7. Went to Shakertown with Mary and Cathy. (I had angel food cake for dessert.)
8. Went to Northern Kentucky to visit with another Mary. (I had quiche there.)
9. Went to El Nopal's for lunch with Marisa and Jacquie.
10. Went to a Reds game with Will (I had hot dog and nachos)

In between I talked with all three kids on the phone everyday. I read two books, The Crazy School and The Color of Water. I saw two movies, Hot Tub Time Machine and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I took at least two walks a day and took Grace to the dog park a few times.

Then Carly called on Sunday night as I was starting to prepare for the new work week. Her dear friend, Kiara, had died in a tragic car accident. . . so my last trip for the week was to Bowling Green to hold Carly for just a bit.

Certainly not the way to end a week, except for the fact that it reminded me how precious and fragile life really is. I'm glad my week was so extraordinarily ordinary; life is too short to spend time waiting for the perfect "vacation." Life is the journey. Kiara taught me that.