Life After Spring Break

In our area, this is the first day back from Spring Break. I know many people who vacationed, made big plans for rest and relaxation, and who bemoaned going back to the real world today.

I, too, was one of those people. We had a Spring Break getaway. We left on Good Friday for a Florida vacation, albeit brief, that was going to be my ticket to sanity for this last push to the end of the school year. It wasn’t a week of sitting still on the beach reading a book and being fed grapes, but we definitely took the time to get out in the sun and have some fun together after a long and tiring winter. Trophy Husband has been working hard, Thing One and Thing Two have kept us extremely busy, and between my full time job as Happy Homemaker, my writing, and my work on getting to work, our life has gotten quite big. I no longer live in the same town as my parents, friends, or even a favorite babysitter, so any situation that evolves, or any activity we commit to has to be handled completely by us.

I like to say that I really need my downtime. I do love being by myself. Actually, I’d love to go on vacation by myself someday – I think that would be divine. But with a husband and a family and friends who are all important to me, I don’t see a solo cruise in my future. As for time alone, I’ll just have to make do with the occasional hot bath, long walk, or if I’m really lucky, afternoon at the movies by myself.

When I logged onto Facebook this morning, I was inundated with status updates about people coming back from Spring Break vacations refreshed. Rejuvinated. Ready to handle their upcoming week. New profile pictures with tanned faces and big smiles were everywhere. (I even considered putting up one of those). But really? Really I don’t feel any different today than any other Monday. Still kind of droopy. Still a little overwhelmed by the week’s to-do list. Still wondering how I’m going to have the energy for tonight’s workout. Still wishing there was a way I could get out of going to tee-ball practice, the grocery store, and the post office and just have a couple of hours to sit here in the quiet. Alone.

But, that’s just not reality, and if I’m going to enjoy a good quality of life, I just have to have to dig deep and get on with it.

And maybe it’s End of Spring Break Blues, or maybe it’s another mini-epiphany about my outlook on life (which happens quite often now that I blog), but while I was looking over all of these recharged status updates I began to wonder how many people actually felt different this Monday morning as opposed to other Monday mornings, and how many people just wrote these invigorated updates because they felt they had to. Because vacations are supposed to be this magic pill for us to swallow in order to be able to handle our real lives, and if we’re NOT coming back all spunky, we’ve done it wrong. Because, after all the time and money spent on relocating the family for a week and all of the crazy high expectations set for what that week was supposed to accomplish, if we don’t update the Facebook world about the vigor we rediscovered after 5 straight days of laying on a beach chair, we have somehow failed.

I don’t know.

I had a short time in the sun on the beach. I had a busy trip, and an even busier few days at home. I didn’t go to bed any earlier, I didn’t sleep any later, and I still had my kids with me every waking (and many sleeping) moments. I still had to make sure my family was fed, clothed, washed, and safe. I still had to pay a bill, shop for a grocery or two, and plan for this or that. So, do I feel cheated because my status update this morning said Mommy2Joe is ready for Life After Spring Break?

Maybe.

But, maybe I have just decided that ultimately, my productivity or efficiency or patience with the tasks I have to handle on any given day is not dependent on how many days I spend vacationing in the warm sun. I’d like to think that I need the time away, I need the time alone, I need the time to recharge. But really, those are things I want. I want a healthy tan and a week to sit still on the beach (maybe someday without having to slather two kids in SPF 50 sunscreen or make sure we’re having dinner in a place that serves the best chicken nuggets). However, the truth is, if I needed plane tickets and room service in order to have time to connect with my husband, our marriage would have failed long ago.

I am able to honor my commitments because I choose to. I am not attentive to my Trophy Husband, patient with Thing One and Thing Two, thorough as a Happy Homemaker, accountable to The Man, or dependable as Your Friend because of the number of days I spend each year on vacation. I’d be those things whether or not I sent you a postcard Wishing You Were Here.

Seriously, that’s a lot of pressure to put on a week away, don’t you think?  To be the prescription to erase the effects of the year’s real-life stress? What if it rains? What if it’s cold? What if Thing Two gets stung by a jellyfish, or Trophy Husband gets hold of a bad shrimp? What then? Are the next three months shot because Thing One got the flu and mommy had to spend the week in the hotel room holding the bucket?

Maybe the secret is not to place the expectations on the breaks, getaways, or vacations. Maybe the key to staying on top of your life is to find a little something to energize you every day. Maybe it’s getting up a few minutes earlier, staying in the shower an extra minute, downsizing your activities, or even just choosing peace. Then, when the unexpected happens – good or bad – we can handle it, enjoy it, be surprised and excited by it, learn from it –  or at least not feel so burdened by it.

In any case, my status update was an honest one. I am ready for life after Spring Break. I have to be.