in two-hundred-and-fifty-words ...

… tell me about your summer vacation.




Isn’t that the stereotypical back-to-school first day assignment?


You arrive in your new classroom on the first day of school.  A bit nervous.  A bit itchy in your new clothes.  Your feet are starting to feel the early signs of blisters from your never-before-worn-shoes …





Your new teacher writes her name on the blackboard.  A tour of the classroom is given.  Cubbies are labeled. Jackets are hung.  Desks are assigned.  Backpacks full of spiral notebooks and crayons and No. 2 pencils are unloaded.



And then …

… and only then …

… when everyone has settled in …

The dreaded first-day-of-school summer vacation essay assignment is scrawled across the blackboard.  Big.  Bold.



Unoriginal.



As we enjoyed our summer vacation over the past week, my daughter brought up this dreaded assignment.  You see, it’s even more dreaded by my children because our summers follow pretty much the same pattern year-over-year …



Sure there are a few tweaks here and there.  A day camper grows up and becomes a junior counselor.  The dates of our annual pilgrimage to my parent’s Florida home fluctuates by a week or two …

… and one year we went all wild and crazy and spent a few days at Disney.

But really, when it comes down to it, it’s all the same.

Our children are cursed with parents who are creatures of habit … and avoiders of the masses.

So instead of boring you with pictures and tales of the beach, the pool, the water park, the endless baskets of spicy peel and eat shrimp …



... I thought I’d tell you what I didn’t do on summer vacation.



I didn’t blog.



I didn’t go online ... okay, maybe a few quick peeks to make sure my scheduled posts went up.  But that’s it.



And while my warrior family went off each day to battle the ocean that is the Atlantic …






… I parked myself in a beach chair and read.





I read books.  Remember those things?  You know, those things with spines?  Those things with ink printed on paper …



I started my reading marathon session with a book recommended to me by this amazing and funny blogging friend who shares my love of all things David Sedaris …





It’s a series of essays that are funny and heartwarming and heartbreaking ... and did I mention funny?  I thoroughly enjoyed each and every page and each and every word in this book, as did my 15-year-old-son.



Next up was a new series from a Chicago area author …

    

She’s a literary phenom … she wrote these books and got a book contract while still a college student at Northwestern.  And it’s in one of my favorite genres, Young Adult (YA).  Oh, and it takes place in a dystopian society.  In Chicago.  How could I resist?

I read the first installment when it first came out, but that was a few years ago.  So I started with a refresh read before moving onto Insurgent.

Now I’ll admit there may have been a bit much in terms of teen mood swings and teen romance … especially in the second book.  But hey, I chose to read YA so I shouldn’t be surprised.  But I muddled through the stolen smooches and hand holding and silly fights because in the end, the story is solid.

Next up, a re-read of favorite among myself, my son, and my daughter …

… a thought-provoking take on life and death and life again.

Then it was a return to Haven Kimmel …

This time her humorous essays circle around a time in our history when women literally “got up off the couch” and pursued education and careers.  Including her mother.

Just when I thought I was out of reading material, I forgot the 80% off Janet Evanovich book I grabbed from the CVS bargain bin …

I started it on the plane  home and, to be honest, I'm not confident I’ll finish.  Not that I don’t love the Stephanie Plum books.  Novels one through 10 had me laughing out loud.   But it’s become more of the same old same old and I think it’s time for Stephanie Plum to grow up.

So tell me … in two-hundred-and-fifty-words (or less) … what did you do on your summer vacation?