What I Did On My Spring Break Or The Spring Break That Wasn't

Today is the last day of my spring break.  I am not happy about this.  It is made worse by today being Daylight Savings and I've lost an hour.  Normally I either spend spring break on vacation (which means I come back rested but behind in my work) or I spend it working (which means I'm caught up--if not ahead--but tired).  This year I opted for the latter.  Unfortunately, in spite of working every single day (including both weekends) I am not caught up.  I may, in fact, be more behind than before.

It seems no one took spring break off and instead they all decided to generate work (and aggravation) that they sent to me throughout the break.  There were meetings, there were phone calls, there were emergency requests, there were large documents and they were all directed my way.  I am not happy.  I am in fact done.  Done with this semester, done with this academic year, done with drama, done with other people's agendas and petty squabbles.  It has not been pretty and it is quite likely to get uglier yet.  Luckily I did spend considerable time at the gym and took multiple tai chi and yoga classes. Therefore I am steadfast in my resolve to stay out of the fray, live in the moment, and do only what can be done.

b is traveling most weekends this spring, leaving me to my own devices.  Friday I drove down to see Angel.  His spring break was just starting and he had plans to go backpacking with friends.  I brought down a backpack, sleeping bag, and water bottles.  I also had a ton of kitchen items from friends that I thought he might want.  We had lunch and then took a walk along a greenway that was just completed behind his house.  He uses it frequently as a running path but that day we just walked it.  I love that Angel loves to walk.  It is his preferred method of transportation, as it is mine, and some of our best talks happen when we walk together.  Friday was no exception.

Today was the most beautiful day of the week.  Unfortunately I forgot about Daylight Savings Time and slept too late to make it to my yoga class.  Instead I quickly settled into a large pot of coffee and grading.  As the day wore on I didn't want to lose it completely and decided to take a bike ride.

This was my first bike ride of the season and from my new house.  I found an easy path to the nearest park.  There are plenty of biking paths in the park and I had a wonderful time.  There was a reenactment of the Revolutionary War going on throughout the park.  Between that and the beautiful day, it was quite crowded.  I'm not a big war buff or reenactment fan, so I didn't stop to take pictures.  However on the way back I passed an open cemetery.  I am a big fan of cemeteries, so I wandered around and took a few photos.  

Now it is back to grading and preparing for the week I have ahead of me.  

My Week As A Western Movie

The Good

I'm teaching a practicum class with both graduate and undergraduate students in my field. As a class we've been planning a large event in the community. Students had to secure space, funds, contributions, and volunteers as well as handle food and decorations. They also had to advertise and recruit participants. As a group we coordinated the entire event through class meetings and Blackboard.

The event occurred today and it went off like a charm. My students, 11 amazing young women, were awesome. The participants enjoyed themselves, learned a few things, met new people, felt pampered and appreciated, and were extremely appreciative of the all the hard work that went into the event. My students felt like they did a good job, worked well as a team, got professional experience, and made a really great day for some women who don't often get special treatment.

I felt proud.

The Bad

A few nights ago one of my colleagues, an avid bike rider and crusader for bike safety, was hit by a car while riding home from the office. The young woman who hit him was text messaging while driving. He is in the hospital with multiple broken bones, including 5 vertabrae. He is definitely improving but it will be a long recovery process. He lives alone and his family lives in another part of the country. On top of all this, it seems his elderly mother has been in and out of the hospital for most of the week, which means his sisters cannot come and take care of him.

[A small piece of good from this event is seeing how much the entire community (department, school, university) are rallying around him and helping him through this tough time. It's feels good to belong to such a supportive group.]

The Ugly

My mother was visiting this entire week. She is never an easy woman and has some serious emotional issues. I noticed when she arrived that she was in one of her "funks," not depression but rather not taking care of herself and drinking more than normal. Towards the end of her visit she manipulated b into a full-scale blow-out fight. She is known for this type of behavior, often with her sons-in-law, but b doesn't really fight with anyone and they certainly have never fought before.

The fight was, of course, over something stupid and if you followed it, which I had no choice but to do, it didn't make much sense. It escalated quickly and got really really bad. In the nine years that I've known him I have never seen b so angry. At one point I couldn't take it any longer and I just lost it. I yelled at them to stop and started crying. (I'm not someone who cries very easily or frequently.) b stopped immediately and came over to comfort me. Boy, who was also witness to this ugliness, acted like the man he has become and firmly but gently told his inebriated grandmother to stop (because she wouldn't) and then took her outside to walk around the block. Afterwards I learned he made idle conversation to divert her attention and when she wanted to continue talking about the fight he told her she could do that the next day, when she was sober.

Afterwards we all went to bed but the house was tense for the rest of her visit. She apologized in the morning but everything she said made it obvious that she just doesn't get what she did. I know she doesn't realize the damage that she has caused to her relationship with all three of us. I've seen her do things like this my entire life but it was the first time b and Boy have really experienced it up close and personal.

[The small bit of good in this was seeing how my sweet, caring, anxious little boy has grown into a mature, sensitive, and tactful man. I often wonder where he came from and how I got lucky enough to be his mom. His behavior with her and his gallantry towards me that night were really quite impressive.]

b just called from work and asked me out on a date to our favorite date restaurant. I'm happy to put this week to bed and that it is ending on such a happy note.