Sometimes, life is just a series of unfortunate events. In my case, spring breaks were one of those. I am now a junior, going to be a senior, and have yet to go on a spring break. This is not by choice. Two out of the three years, I had fully booked flights and places to stay, but spring break just never happened for me.
Freshman year, in October, my friends and I decided to book flights to go to Florida together. One of my friend’s family members lived in Florida, and we would be able to stay at her place during our trip. Unfortunately, this was in 2019, and little did we know what was to come in 2020. As the end of the year neared, we began to get excited about our trip and everything we are going to do, and then COVID-19 hit. Our trip was in March, so COVID-19 was still new. We didn’t know what to do; we thought we only had an extra week of break. However, the news was filled with information on the dangers of COVID-19, and at the last minute, we had to decide whether to board that flight or not. All of our parents said it would be best if we stay home. They didn’t want to risk us getting sick or being stuck down there. This was spring break… try one.
My sophomore year was a different story. A lot of us were living off-campus, and school was online. Everything was so different from the way it was before that spring break didn’t even cross our minds. We were able to go home whenever we wanted and learn from wherever we chose. Since we weren’t tied to being on campus, everyone already did whatever we wanted. Spring break didn’t happen for many people that year because everything was so different, it was almost eerie.
Then we get to my junior year. As I have written about previously, I broke my ankle in October and then rebroke it in December. This was a series of seriously unfortunate events. However, I was ready to do whatever it took to get my spring break. I had worked so hard to recover that I felt like I deserved it. However, going to PT and taking it easy doesn’t speed up the healing process of a bone that has suffered severe trauma. I went to my doctor’s appointment that I had booked two weeks before my flight, and my doctor had said he would see if I could get off the crutches. In my mind, I thought I would be off crutches that day in a walking boot and have two weeks of PT to work on my strength before going on my trip. This was not the case. After looking at the X-ray, my doctor informed me that my fibula bone was still not connected. He advised I don’t go, but that I was an adult and could make the choice.
This was a very adult decision. I could either have fun in the moment, not miss out, and go to Florida with all my friends, or I could sit home look at all the Instagram posts, and receive no immediate reward. I’m not going to lie, I did cry, more for the frustration I have felt towards this ankle and what it has kept me from being able to do for so long. Ultimately, I chose not to go, which at the moment was tough, seeing all you missed out on as you sit in your childhood room, but I am hoping it was the right choice.
So there you have it: three years of college and not one spring break. Next year is my last year of college, and I hope I can experience a college spring break before I graduate. I want to be able to go somewhere nice, rent a house with all the friends I’ve made these past three years, and just relax. For right now, though, I’m just focusing on being able to walk without crutches.
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