Spring Break Memories

Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, Lake Tahoe, and Yosemite…

Today’s guest bartender for Happy Hour is Elle, a Twitter friend/part-time blogger from Northern California. [Raiders, baby!] Drinks are free for happy Hour so be sure to tip your bartender with a comment or two. There are appetizers in the corner and the bathroom is the second door on the left.


When Benjamin asked if I would do a guest post, I was super flattered. I am not a “blogger” by any stretch of the imagination ( I have a blog that rarely gets updated these days) however I was more than glad to join in. When he asked me to write about Spring Break, my first thought was “What’s that?!?!”
Of course, I know what Spring Break is—see that picture? That’s me on Spring Break in Hawaii many, many years ago. This was me before I had my daughter, before I truly understood what “responsibilities” were.
(Note to self: blowing your entire savings on a last minute trip did NOT fall under the responsible category)


                                                             
I just have not had a Spring Break, or any type of break in a very long time. Spring Break used to be a bunch of sunny days at the beach and long nights filled with friends, laughter and the kind of freedom only experienced by people with absolutely no responsibilities or worries. There was no homework, no chores, nothing to stop me from living it up.
Living in Northern California afforded me the opportunity to have many wonderful spring breaks. Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, Lake Tahoe, and Yosemite—all those places hold many great memories for me. Those were the days before I became a Mom.–the days when I only had myself to worry about and even then I wasn’t all that great at that!
There are honestly not too many things I miss about my pre-mommy days. Spring Break however is definitely one of them. I miss the freedom to come and go, to stay out late and sleep in, to do anything I wanted to do without any worries. It’s wishful thinking, I know.
Once I became a mom, my life became everything but worry free or relaxing! My daughter turned my life upside down and inside out. Throw in a divorce a few years later and you have a recipe for insanity that I am sure many of you are familiar with.
My Spring Breaks now consist of coordinating an insane schedule of daycare, play dates and enough fun activities to make up for the fact that NO, we are not going to Cabo San Lucas like her other friends and their families.
Lucky for me, I have a great little sports fan as a daughter so the last Spring Breaks have consisted of opening season baseball games and play off hockey games as well as random trips to the beach. They are a far cry from my carefree days but they are my reality now and as much as I miss those days (and I really do!), my new Spring Breaks give me even better memories like the one below. Hugs like that make life worth living.