By Patti Parish-Kaminski, Publisher
And then I made Mr. Kaminski watch Gladiator with me!
Spring Break is a thing in the Kaminski household even though our babies are grown and flown. Traditionally, the March mayhem is a break for students taking classes from primary grades all the way through university. The week-long vacay really has nothing to do with adults, unless, of course, you are an adult who went back to school or you are a teacher. Hence, you are entitled to Spring Break.
It’s different for us because of Mr. Kaminski’s work. Many of his programs are closed for Spring Break as they are in the elementary schools; therefore, his workload is less, so we typically take off for a week during the March madness with all the other college kids. We’ve learned over the years destinations to avoid so we aren’t in the middle of the break barrage, but it’s a losing battle. Spring Break springs nationwide and all destinations South of the border.
This year at the onset of Spring Break, the worst thing happened: We were forced to spring forward Saturday night of the first weekend for daylight saving. I absolutely loathe springing forward. I am a champ at falling back, but I do not spring well. And I’m thoroughly convinced that we were robbed an hour of our vacay, and I want it back.
To make matters worse, we were flying out Sunday morning extremely early, the very next day of this hour-robbing incident. When Mr. Kaminski woke me up at 6 am, I thought I was going to die.
“This was a short sleep,” I informed him, nauseous, dizzy and completely incoherent. “I don’t like short sleeps.”
“I know honey. You’ll be fine. Let’s go – fun, fun, fun!” he gently coaxed the bear as to not get mauled.
I got dressed and ready – somewhat – and made it to the shuttle only to discover that the balmly 70 degrees we went to sleep to was now 40 degrees with blustering winds. So now I was sleep deprived, freezing and rushing. It was a recipe for disaster.
I honestly don’t know how I made it on the plane much less through airport security. The entire episode is a blur. It was not a stellar start to our Spring getaway.
Feeling disheveled and overall grumpy, I got on the plane and looked at my entertainment choices – something I rarely do as I usually read. But with the early am nausea and all, I just couldn’t look at the words jumping around on the page without at least 12 ounces of Diet Coke and a minute.
I decided on a light-hearted, fluffy movie to make me feel better: Gladiator II. After the first half a dozen kills or so – voila! I felt so much better!
Considering the origin of Spring Break traces back to the ancient Greeks, Dionysus specifically, I think Gladiator II was a fitting choice to start my break from the winter doldrums. Look at me being all relevant – despite my short sleep, springing forward and the blustery blast. Happy Spring Break! See y’all next week – on the porch!
Patti Parish-Kaminski
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