This year’s Spring Break was all about Troy and me becoming excitable college basketball fans in between filling plastic eggs with candy, getting our apartment ready for open houses, and visiting family (who are friends) in Virginia.  Troy donned a Wichita State Shockers mask and sang a fight song that our friend Dan wrote and put on YouTube, and next thing we know a Kansas radio station began playing it.  Huck spent a day as a part-time employee at our church preparing for all the Easter festivities while his parents ran in and out of rooms in a frenzy, daydreaming about a peaceful Easter someday.  Just before the Shockers made it to the Elite Eight, we were filling our suitcases and rental car with travel equipment while simultaneously trying to leave our apartment clean and shiny when I noticed Huck had secretly left a wet, wadded up toilet paper roll on the floor in the bathroom, which looked exactly like a piece of poop. When I said how embarrassing that would have been for the real estate agent to find, I swear his eyes twinkled a little bit.

A few hours later on our way to my Uncle Ronnie’s and Aunt Dottie’s home, Huck was trying to explain something to me (as usual) and I wasn’t quite understanding (also as usual), and when I finally figured it all out he very sweetly said, “I’m sorry if I made you feel dumb just now.”  I thanked him for being so sensitive and told him that I was fine.  ”Because you sounded really dumb,” was his reply.  And this is what I like about children.

Speaking of children, we were with a lot of them during our four days away.  My cousin’s kids Bryce, Carter and Emma were spending spring break with grandma and grandpa, so we got to tag along.  There were slumber parties every night, gigantic Chinese flaming flying lantern launches most evenings, a visit to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, hot dogs at Snow White Grill, Star Wars marathons, Easter egg decorating, the delightful Mirror Maze at Skyline Caverns, lots of complaining about the chilly weather, and lots of basketball games on TV.  We tried not to remember that this was our last visit for a while.

We drove home Saturday, the Shockers made it to the Final Four, Troy & Dan’s video got 7500 hits, we had a whirlwind morning at the church, we hid some eggs, we found some eggs, and then we enjoyed one last Annual Easter Potluck with friends (who are family) at our old building overlooking the Hudson River.  And did we mention that we also got to be a part of a top-secret marriage proposal in Times Square for our friends Joe and Thos?  That happened too.

Goodbye, New York Spring Break.  And Don’t Mess with the Shockers.

Dan & Troy’s Video: Don’t Mess With the Shockers