Who has that much money? Who wants their young adults to do dangerous things? Who doesn’t want the young adults to act responsibly?
Spring break travel has become an accepted part of the college experience, and not in a good way. I wonder, if someone is spending thousands per semester for a kid’s education, why anyone thinks binge drinking, drugs, and encounters with the law, qualifies as education expense.
I’m old fashioned. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I didn’t have to walk a mile to school, uphill both ways, as a child, but when I got out of high school at age 16, I was expected to earn my way in summer and buckle down to study at college in winter. Nobody ever heard of spring break. We didn’t even get any Easter holidays. The only snow days I recall were during the blizzard of 1949, but I’m glad that administrators are more cautious about putting youngsters on the road in bad weather now.
Did you get a spring break from your job? I guess teachers do, but probably they spend it correcting papers and making lesson plans. Folks we elect to represent us in Washington do. Maybe they had parents who paid for a trip to the beach, back in the day.
One of my grandkids is in college. He spent spring break calving cows with his dad, and rodeoing. I guess the rodeoing counts as fun, but at least he wasn’t on the beach being stupid. I reckon most of his classmates followed the same pattern because he attends a small rodeo college in Texas. There’s probably not a lot of pressure to head to Florida in that crowd. The company you keep really does have a lot of influence on your life—something my mom said often. I didn’t believe her, of course, but she hoped I’d grow out of stupid, and I pretty much did. It helped that my parents didn’t finance foolishness.
So, the way I see it, I’ve paid my dues and am overdue for a spring break. Let’s see, I could spend it washing windows to remove the crud that ice and snow placed there all winter. I’d really like to have a week to clean up the yard debris and plan what flowers and vegetables to put in when spring really gets here. But March weather hasn’t cooperated with those plans, so what else? I have a friend in Florida who keeps asking when we will visit, but I don’t own a bikini and that’s not a sight you would want to see, anyhow.
I decided to accept my husband’s invitation to ride along on a jaunt through the hills. He needed to note errors on rural road maps the state provides. (No wonder people keep getting lost in our pastures and stuck in blowouts!) We bounced along at ten mph for several hours. He opened a lot of gates and dodged a lot of leftover snowdrifts. I learned some history of the area where he grew up, and folks who settled here. Looked for a robin, but only saw a few Canada Geese that were hunting hard for some open water. We detoured back through town to get gas, and even ate at Arby’s. Got home and took a nap. Travel takes a lot out of you, you know, especially us old folks.
Meet me here next week and, meanwhile, do your best. Somebody might like it.