Two of my all-time favorite bloggers, Don of Don of All Trades and Jennifer Schario Hicks of Real Life Parenting, are part of the Finish the Sentence Friday challenge. This week it is to finish the sentence, “If I could go back in time…”
If I could go back in time, I’d do the two things I never did when I was in college—Florida on Spring Break, and an honest-to-confetti New Year’s Eve party.
In the good old days BC (Before Children), “spring break” conjured visions of the three S’s—south, sun, and sex. Students across America said, “Let’s go down to Florida for a tan, memory blackouts, and out-of-state arrest records.” But I never went because I suffer from a medical problem involving a gag-reflex at the thought of trying on a bikini.
Nice auld lang syne, Barb!
I did come close to the New Year’s Eve party when a friend of my sister invited me to a Major Social Event—balloons, live big band, valet parking—at the family’s Lake Michigan shorefront estate on Chicago’s north side. By promising to care for his geriatric cats when he went on Spring Break, I managed to get the one other person on the planet who didn’t have a New Year’s Eve date to agree to come with me.
I never saw the party, but I did spend the next few days with the cats while my date went in for an emergency broken-jawectomy after slipping on the ice as we walked up to the front door of the party. My mother said that I at least owed him marriage after that, but I felt the cats were payment enough. Besides, I think a true gentleman would have refused to get into that ambulance until we’d counted down to midnight and had some champagne.
Sally got champagne, confetti, and a kiss at midnight. And she never had to take care of Harry’s cats…
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Calling all writers and readers. I feature new books and reviews on Thursdays. Each post will include a contest where you power up your lie-dar to separate fact from fiction and win fabulous prizes! (Well, prizes anyway…) To reserve a date, send email to barbtaub (at) gmail (dot) com.
Barb Taub 
So true about Sally, but will say I never did Sprin Break either, but I did many New Year’s Eve Parties and they aren’t all that is cracked up to be. Trust me, I have had better nights for sure. But seriously, so happy you joined us this week and hope you will again in weeks to come now!
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Thanks for stopping by. I’m looking forward to next Friday!
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You always make me laugh – LOL! Why is that :)?
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Must be my sophisticated, intellectual, highbrow brand of humor. Or not…
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LOL!!
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Awesome way to finish the sentence! I never did the crazy spring break trip, either and kind of wish I did, now. I did go on a road trip my freshman year in college with a friend. We flew from San Fran to NY and drove her car back to SF. It was partly awesome and partly horrible. We stayed with different friends around the country, hung out, drank too much, and that part was a blast. But the stretches where we had no friends to crash with sucked because we were mostly broke and slept in the car one night.
I’ve been to a few NYE parties. Some awesome but mostly all overrated. Your post cracked me up!
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Thank you so much for stopping by and for your comment. I’ve given up on spring break. Although we did go to the south of Spain last year, I think the median age was medicare-and-a-half. I still have hopes for that fancy NYE shindig. Lucky me, though, I ended up with much hotter guy than Billy Crystal.
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Hmmm, I never did the whole Spring Break thing either, and I agree re: most NYE parties being over-rated. Sorry you got sooooooooooooo close but still missed that party! 😦 [#FTSF]
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Well it certainly could have been worse. I could have listened to my mother and gotten stuck with the cat-guy. Actually, he held a sick fascination for my whole family. We had never before encountered someone who paid actual money for a cat. Sure, we had cats too, but we got them the usual way—a neighborhood lady cat would tryst with a travelling gentleman cat, and a few months later the family’s kids would be going door-to-door with a cardboard box of kittens. The kitten would do its job of being cute. When it got bigger, we’d put it outside every night to do its job of keeping a lid on the local rodent population, and of making more cats. It was the circle of life.
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I did Spring Break four times in Florida, and each one was an absolute blast! Some of the best times and memories of my life. If you go with good friends and leave all inhibitions behind it’s such a fun experience.
As for NYE I have been to a bunch of good parties. Sure, it’s a bit overrated but it depends on who you celebrate it with.
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Okay, that does it. I’ve been pig-piling up the karma, so for my next life I want to come back as you.
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I did Spring Break once in college. It was fun, but the sad part was that we stayed in my friend’s grandparent’s retirement community trailer. Haha! It was free though. So we went out and partied and then came back to our mobile home every early morning.
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At least the neighbors were pretty quiet after, say 9:00PM.
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