We’re a little more than halfway through 16 days off from school if you count the weekends. The kids are restless.
Breaking down the top spring break destinations of 2025
With spring just around the corner, many people plan on traveling to escape winter’s last gasp.
In my business, it’s easy to have a negative perspective on life; after all, journalists …
“Dad!”
Hang on, one of my kids needs me. It’s spring break, and I’m a single father. That means there are about 15,997 things they ask me over the course of any given day, times four kids, times two weeks, since they go to public schools in Gilbert.
It’s one of those quirks of life in Arizona that we have to explain to friends and family in other states.
My kids’ school starts in July and lets out in May. We don’t do Daylight Saving Time. We don’t get in the pool when it’s 80 degrees out. Our yards are full of rocks – on purpose. And it seems like everything in nature comes with spikes, thistles, thorns, barbs or poison.
Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted by a 6-year-old who wanted a juice box: In my business, it’s easy to have a negative perspective on life; after all, journalists write about airplanes when …
“Dad!”
Hang on, we’re a little more than halfway through 16 days off from school if you count the weekends. The kids are restless and getting on each other’s nerves.
Don’t fall through the cracks
I’d put them in some sort of camp, but we’re not rich. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not poor, either. I’ve got a union job that pays well. My kids have everything they need, and many of the things they want. But I have to get creative to make sure ends meet most months.
I haven’t started wearing a Batman mask and robbing drug dealers or selling pictures of my feet online, but I do eat a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and go so long between haircuts that if I have to go somewhere on short notice people wonder whether I’m clinically depressed. (I might be, but it’s hard to know for sure. Therapy is pretty expensive, and my insurance co-pays are hilarious.)
We’re in that financial sweet spot, where we don’t qualify for government freebies and people who want to help little Black kids from broken homes can find others who need support much, much more.
We live in the crack between working class and middle class that economists warn about people falling into. We can see what the good life looks like, but it doesn’t seem likely that we’re going to reach it from here.
That gap has been growing in Arizona, with prices for everything from homes to eggs taking a massive leap since I moved here in 2011.
Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted by a couple of 14-year-old boys who want to talk to me about another basketball clinic and gym shoes I can’t afford: In my business, it’s easy to have a negative perspective on life; after all, journalists write about airplanes when they crash …
*CRASH!*
“Daaaaaad!”
Hang on, spring break means spring cleaning, and it sounds like my 8-year-old just crashed through her dollhouse. (Probably not. She’s the responsible one.)
These aren’t the best of circumstances
I should have taken some vacation days, but planning isn’t my strong suit in the best of circumstances. And in case I wasn’t clear earlier, these are not the best of circumstances.
Life for me these days is mostly a matter of dealing with the most urgent issue before me and trying to rest before the next fire starts. (I mean that figuratively and literally. The other day, I had a pot on the stove too long, and it started a blaze that almost took off my eyebrows.)
By the time I thought about putting in a PTO request, someone else in my department had already asked for time off. We’re already shorthanded. Plus, I need to save the hours to take some time away for summer vacation.
Not that we’re going to go anywhere fun. If we’re lucky, we’ll get back to Michigan to visit family. But the co-pays on my dental plan are hilarious. Every time I go, they find something new that’s going to cost me the equivalent of a couple of plane tickets.
Anyway, as I was saying before my 8-year-old interrupted to tell me that our dogs broke a lamp in the living room: In my business, it’s easy to have a negative perspective on life; after all, journalists write about airplanes when they crash, not when they land safely.
But I hope we can keep our wits.
Let’s try to find the good
Journalists are more important than ever. The federal government is changing so quickly that it’s hard to keep track of it all. State government doesn’t seem to have any grasp of what could help everyday people. And everything costs too much.
Housing. Grocery bills. Medical bills. Dental bills. Childcare. Enrichment camps. Can anyone help the Everyday Schmoe? Who’s in charge around here, anyway?
Still, I hope journalists can see the good sometimes, too.
That starts with me. My kids are healthy, physically, mentally and spiritually. (Thank God.) We have good friends who’ve become like family over the years. And, even though it’s not always easy, we’re making it. Together.
I just pray that the things I write help make the world at least slightly better for them when it’s their turn. For that, I’ve got to be an optimist, at least some of the time.
Even though, in my business, it’s easy to have a negative perspective on life; after all …
“Dad!”
… I’m just trying to get through a two-week spring break.
Reach Moore at [email protected] or 602-444-2236. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @SayingMoore.
发表回复