I am cracking myself up over here at my title. Perhaps because I have just poured myself a delicious glass of wine and am trying to survive this Spring Break. Disclaimer: What I am about to say will undoubtedly seem very, very bratty. But, this is my blog and I can be a brat if I want to!! So, for my entire childhood I was privileged to go to Florida for nearly every Spring Break. This was because my father traveled so much for business and had frequent flier miles and my uncle managed hotels and got us great deals. So, every March, I would board some airplane and lounge in the sun, soaking up all the rays I could, for the thought of NOT being the tannest person in my high school was devastating to me. Fast forward through college where I took more fun trips, paid for by my parents, and post college where I was lucky to go to places like Mexico, Grand Cayman and St. Lucia. Then, kids and jobs and being an actual adult with a husband who can never take vacation during spring breaks and student loans and three kids who can barely make it to Paw Paw on the way to Chicago let alone an 18 hour car trip to Florida. And, you have five fairly miserable people trying to make the most of it in freaking MICHIGAN. Oh, I forgot, Michigan, this winter was literally a frozen tundra of hell. Snow and cold like I have never seen in my life, and I have spent most of my life in this state! If ever there were a time that an escape to anywhere southern was needed, it was post WINTER 2014! But, for all the reasons mentioned above, we did not go further into debt to buy plane tickets, We opted instead to visit friends in Chicago, go to Shedd and have an overnight at a reasonably priced water park/hotel nearby. I have also been fortunate enough to have eleven days off work so I can spend this quality spring break time with the kids(note: this statement is DRIPPING with sarcasm and sauvigon blanc!).
One of the goals of this break, besides having great time together as a family, is to get my mess of a basement organized and the loads of crap I have stored down there for the past year, ready for our neighborhood garage sale in a few weeks. Many of you will remember that my friend Nicole blessed me with her organizational services a few years ago. Three years ago that basement was pristine. But, fast forward, well..um, THREE years and life has happened. Grad school, holidays, birthdays and grandparents that insist that KIDS need TOYS, has happened. The basement was a mess. In fact it was so messy that sometimes I fantasized a huge flood ruining everything in it so I could begin again. But, one day last week, my gracious mother in law offered to take the girls and Matthew was off playing with friends so I had no choice but to tackle it. I will admit that when I first went down there, I thought to myself, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!, I can't, I won't!" But, I started with one basket and soon I realized if I tackled the basement one basket/bin at a time, that it was doable. That I could make sense of the chaos that it had become. Three short hours later, the play side actually looks good. I couldn't help but see the lessons my messy basement was screaming at me. That I tend to become overwhelmed when I don't need to. That really all you need to do is take each day and sometimes each moment on and not worry about the big picture. That sometimes we do need to throw ourselves into the messy projects and miss the fun in order to have less stress in our lives. That sometimes we can feel bad that we think we the ONLY family in Portage, Michigan NOT on Spring Break. But, at the end of the day, we are blessed that we are able to have friends to visit and money to go to aquariums and movies and b-list water parks. Sometimes there are lessons for my kids and their grouchy mommy in the mess of the basement and learning to have fun and be a family, in any circumstance. And of course, there is always enough wine:) Kidding, kind of !
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