What I Did During Spring Break 2011

Spring Break is the time of year that has become infamous with college kids partying hard (too hard) and having the time of their lives. I'm not quite in that position. Those days are long gone for me. I'm 37 years old, have been married to my wonderful wife for 16 years and have 3 wonderful children. So what did I do during the Spring Break 2011? Well, I stayed home with my 2 year old son and 10 year old daughter. 

In years past, during spring break, we would’ve traveled somewhere as a family. Recently it was North Carolina, Florida, or just up to Rhode Island, to visit relatives. Well the latter is true this year, but for a more somber reason. And not all of the family went. 

Since the passing of my Father-in-law back in January 2011, my wife has come down with a serious case of homesickness. And I can’t blame her. Unexpectedly losing a family member, when you yourself are living out of state, can bring on feelings of “What if I was still living there?” and “Maybe if I was there, I could’ve prevented it”. Not to mention the typical feeling of not spending enough time with that person when they were alive. It can be a very trying time both physically and mentally. 

So this year on spring break, we decided it was best for my wife to visit Rhode Island to spend time with her mom as she tried to get accustomed to life without her husband for the first time in over forty years. She is also recovering from Breast Cancer and needs all the help she can get physically. So I spent the week taking care of our two youngest children while she took our twelve year old daughter with her to Rhode Island. Besides wanting the company on the plane ride, our daughter was old enough to help out quite a bit. So I dropped them at Pittsburgh International Airport on the Saturday morning of Spring Break and picked them back up on that Friday. 

Although I didn’t have anything real exciting to talk about on this particular Spring Break, it was a great week of bonding with my two youngest children and memories that will last a lifetime. My wife had a very productive trip to Rhode Island. She accomplished a ton of stuff in helping her mom and also had a great week of bonding. 


Sometimes it’s not about where you went, but rather who you spent it with. However just so this isn’t too much of a downer, I attached a video of what might be the absolute best vacation song ever; Kokomo by the Beach Boys. It’s also from one of my favorite movies of the 1980’s; Cocktail. I’m listening to it right now and it’s making me want to pack my bags and head for an island somewhere.