You've Got to Pay to Play

The title of this blog is a rather unfortunate truth it seems sometimes. My dad has been using this phrase since I can remember, and throughout my life I've discovered just how true it is. I don't want this post to be negative though, so let me just say, even though the title is an unfortunate truth, it's a phrase I'm fond of, because it's used so often by my dad, and he never says it with great dissapointment. It's always simply stated as a fact. Actually, often he says it with a strange grin and accent, as he pats me or the dog on the head.

I have felt like I understood this phrase for a while, but now it is taking on a strange and new meaning. But, in order to understand that, I have to recap my spring break:

I was a little bit bummed out about my spring break at first. It is my last one and I wanted to do something fun, but since Jayson and I are attending different universities, we both had different weeks off for spring break. Whenever anyone would ask me what my plans were I'd complain in my head thinking, "This year for spring break, I'm going to work four days instead of three. Oh joy." I was also bummed because it seemed like everyone else got to start their spring break right after school got out that Friday, but mine didn't begin until that Sunday because I had midterms due all weekend. However, I reminded myself that even though I wasn't going or doing anything spectacular, the week long break from homework would be nice, and it was. I even gave myself two extra days of no homework. Since I'm taking online classes I didn't have to actually attend class or turn in anything for a couple of days, so I extended my dear spring break. While I like being in a classroom better, online classes definately have their perks.

My first triumphant moment of Spring Break was finishing the TV series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. MIND BLOWING. Seriously, there are no words to describe the pure awesomeness of the last couple of espisodes. To illustrate this, I'm going to share a quote from my Aunt Kristen (Todd's sister in law): "Wanna know how much I love the Last Airbender? I was in labor with Noah and trying to finish the series finale! I finally had to turn it off cuz I *really* needed to get the hospital. Had Noah two hours later!!! It was an inspiration, Noah is lucky his name wasn't Aang, yip yip!"

The last weekend of spring break Jayson and I did manage to take a trip to Logan to visit friends. The last weekend of my break overlapped with the first weekend of Jayson's so it was perfect. Neither one of us had to worry about homework or anything while we were up there. We just got to simply see our friends and have fun. It was absolutely marvelous! It was filled with good food, good conversation, warmish weather (I even got to wear my flip flops!), and I showed a few of my friends Avatar: The Last Airbender. I don't think they're quite as impressed as me, but I think they are warming up to it. :)

My extended spring break was just as good as my actual spring break. This past Tuesday night Jayson and I were able to get together with a friend of mine from my home ward, her husband, and their little boy. It was an absolute joy to see her again and to catch up on things! Later that day we spend the rest of the night with a few of the Kim's. We watch The Princess and the Frog and then broke into a completely random and unplanned dance party with Jayson's younger sisters Karissa and Jana around midnight. It may seems a bit silly to some, but for me it was a wonderous experience. First off, I love dancing. There's just someting about it. I always feel like my body and soul are most connected while dancing (and swimming.) Second, as I looked at the people I was dancing with I couldn't help but think to myself, "This is how I know I married into the right family." It's a funny thought, but it was also very serious. I really feel like I married into the perfect family for me.

My point with this post title is to say that, yes you have to pay to play in the sense that a lot of the time you have to work hard to be able to afford time off, and when you get back from a break everything has piled up while you were gone. However, there's more. It seems like part of paying is that I need a break from school so much more when I get back from spring break than before I had it. It's SO hard to go back to everyday life after a break for me. Also, whenever I got Logan it seems that I miss my friends more the moment I leave than before I went up there. Somehow those two day trips are never completely sufficient. I wil get back into the swing of things though, and all in all, I realize that feeling this way just means that my life is really awesome.