Spring Break - A Snowbird's Rite of Passage

Article from The New Citizens Press www.tncp.net

Bags-Check. Cooler-Check. Sunscreen-Check. After a long, cold, damp gray winter, the anticipation of escaping from the "Blahs" where black ice, brown grass and gray skies could drive a person mad - gives us a rite of passage known as Spring Break.

Growing up in Southern California, I could not differentiate winter from spring. My only reference of Spring Break was something out of the movie "Where The Boys Are." (Thank you Connie Francis!). I asked myself then "What's the point?"

Becoming a Mid-Westerner transplant for almost twenty years, I now understand the need to escape...No matter the cost. The price for admission give us golden sunshine - a needed commodity that we have lacked these last few months. It is known that the sun is a good source of vitamin D. Having that vitamin deficiency is a major cause of depression.

For the sake of our family's mental health, the road trip was imperative. It would test our bonding experience driving 24 hours to Sarasota, Florida crammed like sardines, smelling like sardines strewn with pillows, snacks and electronic devices to fight off boredom. The latter has killed the spirit of a family road trip. No longer do we find ourselves playing "I Spy" or the out of state license plate game or even the age-old whine "Are we there yet?". Perhaps families find that having their iPods' portable DVD's really help make the trip less bearable and stress-free. More power to them.

The beauty of trekking the interstate across this great country is discovering what we have in common (fast food, malls, cars, friendly and rude drivers) and what differentiates us from our home (early greening, different accents and cultural norms). Being a geography buff, I always insist I throw factoids at my girls and indoctrinate them knowing the names of states, capital cities and products that are indigenous to their statehood. This is my legacy.

So the quest for this golden elixir required my family to migrate like birds, who have incidentally been doing this trek for over ten millennia. Only our disadvantage is without wings and a cargo full of "Stuff". Somehow we can learn a thing or two from our fine feathered friends about packing "light". The funny thing about traveling during this time of year is finding other snowbirds-brothers in arms from our Great Lakes in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Like blood flowing from veins to a single artery, the Heartland caravan trudges down Interstate 75 and 65 with one thing in common..."Latitude Adjustment".

For those who were able to escape to other lands, be it beaches, mountains or out of town elsewhere, the absence for a short period makes you fonder for hearth and home when you return to a familiar smell, yet, somehow different when you first left.

Perhaps the concept of Spring Break is not just about combing beaches or walking barefoot with less clothing and getting a neat bronze, but about a prelude to another growing season of enlightenment and re-birth or a new lease to a healthier life.