Got a Happy Story? February Vacation Edition

Got a Happy Story is a community gathering every Friday night where we share stories large and small that have put a smile on our face.  It is a time to acknowledge the joy and wonder we experience.  The Happy Story diary exists as a way to anchor the community in hope and comfort while we do the hard work of taking back our country. Everyone and all sorts of stories and pictures are welcome. May we find joy and strength here.

Here in the Northeast we are accustomed to school vacations in February.  In Massachusetts, February vacation has just begun.  New Hampshire claims the following week.  I was surprised to hear from a friend years ago that no such vacation existed in the Beltway area or in the South.

Teachers have always said that February vacation is the most important,  that the children would be animals without it.  I remember my childhood Februaries and I distinctly recall feeling irritable and listless in February and March.  The vacation week seemed to help since we spent much of it outdoors sledding and skating.  Usually, we also had, what was for us, a big deal event--typically the Ice Capades at Boston Garden.  When I was a teen I'd go skiing with friends for the day.

So we're all ready for vacation around here.  There won't be any sledding because there isn't any snow on the ground.  We'll do some winter beach walks, swim in the town pool, and go visit Grandma and Grampa.  We live in a town where many families are off to Florida, or Aruba, or on a cruise.  We're staying put for a variery of reasons.  Ultimately it's the week of brisk exercise during daylight that is important, not the venue.

The beach is different in the winter.  Much of the time the ocean looks angry and chaotic.  The color isn't as blue; it's sort of a grey green stew of outrage.  There's a lot of trash to pick up: smashed lobster traps, broken buoys, and all manner of driftwood.  Yet despite all that, there's something so elemental about beach walking in the winter.  There's this sense that in the midst of the chaos and anger there is a profound sense of peace, a knowledge of how small we are when compared with the vastness of the ocean, and the surety that life continues despite a harsh and unwelcoming environment.  The seagulls still find their meals, the tide continues to ebb and flow, and we are a part of the natural world.

My first date with soberdad was a beachwalk in January on Nantasket Beach in Hull and at World's End in Hingham.

Nantasket Beach photo courtesy of Paragon Park Memories

World's End  photo courtesty sbalsamo2

I have no idea whether a vacation week midwinter is confined to the New England states.  Do the Midwest, the Mountain States, the Rust Belt, and other northeast states have it as well?

What is your happy story this week?  What memory or pet picture do you have to share?