There's No Surf in Cleveland, USA

... but there is Spring Break!

It is filled with lots of surprises, good and bad, but all exciting. This break included an earthquake, tornado, some beautiful sunny days, and of course a winter storm in time for St. Patrick's Day. No St. Patrick's Day is complete without some nasty weather.

I got all my homework and relaxing in on that first weekend, and it was glorious.

Monday was spent getting up early, having lunch with my mom and seeing where she works, visiting my high school and talking to the current students and my old teachers, and running various errands.

Tuesday I slept in ever so late and then enjoyed the beautiful weather with my pets and the neighbors, and spent the evening catching up with my friend Jessica. That was when I saw Zodaic.

I did a lot of travelling around the area, though unfortunately I forgot to go to Hinckley on the 15th to watch the buzzards return. Some day, some day...
Instead of Hinckley, I spent an evening with my brother and his friends at Kent State, the school most famous for May 4, 1970, but really a great school. This was the night of the tornado, and actually, I completely missed the storm at my house by visiting Tim, all I had was rain and a little thunder travelling back home late that Wednesday night.




Visited my friend Nicky at Westminster in New Wilmington, PA. I did not get lost trying to find her. Got a tour of the TV station and radio building as she is a broadcast journalism major. We stayed up late chatting about the important things in life, and then I left early Friday morning to visit all my relatives in Youngstown.





My family is the best family ever, no doubt about that. I am not biased. Youngstown is most famous for its mafia and gang problems due to the steel mills shutting down and all... but my grandparents are local heroes and they know EVERYONE in Youngstown. I hung out with my grandma and we went to the Butler Art Museum and I saw an awesome painting of Abe Lincoln, pre-presidency.

We had lunch there with my aunt Molly. We talked for about 3 hours I think. I know we were there a long time. I spent time with my cousins Brendan, Katie, Colin and Brigid (all Molly and Jamie's kids) and I met their various new pets... just chilled there. Then I went to visit the other set of cousins, Uncle Chris and Aunt Gina's kids: Sean, Christy, Erin and Patrick. I met some more pets I hadn't met yet, and chilled there, and then went out to dinner with some of them. It was a great time. All these cousins are much younger than me, so it is fun to watch them grow and play with them. I love them very much. The little girls were especially happy to see me. I drove home that night in the snow storm, which worried some people but I was alright. I've learned that my fears are other peoples' fears and I really shouldn't be afraid of anything.





Saturday was a day of endless fun, commencing at 7 am. It consisted of me being adopted by my friend Hannah's family.
While my family is Irish, we do very little to celebrate the special holiday, and it has become tradition for me to join my "Aunt" Beth's family. Aunt Beth is one of eleven children, ten of which are girls. So about half of her sisters came to town for the day with their husbands and kids. Aunt Beth is on my list of all time favorite people, so I always feel special spending the day with her. Anyway, we went to mass at St. Patrick's downtown, with the new bishop Richard Lennon (he should be a Beatle with his name) of Boston. You have to get to this mass about two hours early if you want a seat. It is a beautiful church, looks to me like it should be a basilica or cathedral. There are bagpipes and everything, oh it must be the best Mass I go to every year.

Walked to brunch from there at a little restaurant, and we packed the place with a party of 35+. Then we drove to the hotel to drop off our food and stuff, and watch the parade.





I lasted the whole time once again even though it was literally freezing, and being on Lake Erie doesn't help with the wind. This was my sixth consecutive year at the parade, the first 4 I marched with my high school, but it is much more enjoyable simply to watch the parade. It is a long one, 2-3 hours, and normally when you think of a St Patrick's Day Parade, you don't think of Cleveland. You think of Boston, New York, or Chicago. Yet a lady was there who had been to all of those parades and said they were nothing compared to Cleveland's. People don't realize that about Cleveland, what a wonderful city it is, but that is for a different entry. We had a party back at Aunt Beth's house where I continued to bond with the cousins and all. I was pretty glad I had spent Friday with my family, otherwise I would feel like I had completely changed families. Oh I love parties. Especially at Aunt Beth's. I didn't want to leave, but my ride was ready around 10 last night, so I had to leave. My friend Amanda had just got back to start her break, and I got to see her at the party too.


I could have gone somewhere with guaranteed sunshine (or surf) for my Spring Break, but I do not regret going home and spending time with great family and friends and friends' families. It was so great to recharge the batteries and do a lot of fun things like driving. Spending time with these amazing people makes me realize what is most important to me, and I really hope that next Spring break coincides with St. Patrick's Day because that is the best way to celebrate.