Spring Break 17! Woohoo!

We have been doing that "Spring break (insert year here)! Woohoo!" chant/rally cry for at least 14 years. I am pretty sure Sally started it. The first time that I truly remember us saying this was Spring Break 03. Kinda random memories, but strong ones. There was lots going on that year. My brother Tom had just been indicted and it wasn't clear how things were going to shake out. Plea bargain? Go to trial? Tom got permission to leave Colorado for a trip to St. Louis to visit Ann's daughter and son-in-law, Shannon and Jayson and their kids, Abby, Emma and Sam. Sally and I drove down to St. Louis to hang out with them. That was also the spring break when we were waiting to hear whether or not Wayne got into USC, It was kinda of a tense Spring Break, What I remember more than anything is the time with Tom. He made it fun.My family is always fun.I am not kidding when I say that. My family handles life's ups and downs like nobody's business. We make it work.
So then there was Spring Break 04 Woo Hoo! Jenny, Sue and I spent it in Colorado attending Tom's trial, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I wouldn't say it was fun, but it was so incredibly profound. My brother was a defendant in a white collar criminal trial that was headlines in the Denver Post and daily AP stories. And all the while, Tom took such good care of us and set the tone. Wow.
Moving on to Spring Break 05 Woo Hoo! (Note: Tom's trial had ended in a mistrial after a 7 week trial with four defendants and NO ONE was convicted- and he ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor) Dane had just died four weeks before Spring Break. Sally and I had made plans to visit my friend Lynn in NYC (her husband was GM at a major hotel there). We went, we had fun, but we were changed. Raw.
Spring Break 06 Woohoo!? Oh yeah, also very memorable. Sue, Jenny, Sally and I went to Houston to hang with Tom and Ann while Tom was going through radiation for his GBM (very aggressive brain tumor). Again, Tom made it fun. He did. Always.
Spring Break 07 WooHOO! Tom's memorial service, which Jenny and I planned and executed. Oh my gosh!
I am not even going to go all the way back to Spring Break 97 which is when my dad called and told me he was in final stages of colon cancer.
I am getting a little dramatic here, right?
Geez.
So this is why I blog.
I did not set out to write this and did not know where I was going with the whole Spring break (year) Woo Hoo thing.
It does help to explain why I have been so emotional today, as Spring Break 17 begins.
I hope and pray that the tide is turning.
Two years ago we had the fabulous trip to Arizona with the kids. Last year, I got my new hip and this year we are waiting for the birth of a grandchild.
May Spring Break 17 be the best one ever! WOOHOO!