|
IT! Big plans for spring break
By CECILIA A. TUCKER
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 17, 2003
I am so ready for a break. Did I say this already? I am soooooo ready for a break. This time of year, I get tired of the same old thing.
 I
am ready to be finished with the grade I am in. I am tired of getting
up before the crack of dawn five days a week and seeing the same UGLY
faces every day. I am sick of the classes I have been in for almost
eight months. I am ready for spring break!
I don't want to do anything this year like I've had to do in the past. It seems someone always has extra "jobs" for me to do during my time off. This year I want to make sure I get to do what I want to do. I want to do things with fun people. I want to take some risks and do something different from my norm. I love finally being old enough not to need a "sitter" or go with my parents on the family trip.
What should I do? There are lots of parties planned, and some of my friends are going out of town together. I am not sure I can persuade my parents to let me go with friends, but I could always lie about where I am going and get someone to cover for me. I have thought about this before but never had the nerve to do it.
Maybe this will be my year to venture out. My friends seem to have lots of cool stories to tell when they return from break. How do they get their parents to let them go? Maybe I will check that out. I am sure everyone must use the same alibi. I wonder if someone's parents lie for the entire group.
This year I want to experience some new things in life. Maybe it is time for me to try some new beverages and be open to some opportunities for intimate relationships. Maybe I will experiment with some recreational drugs. Maybe I will get a fake ID and go to some places I've only thought about going.
Maybe it is time for me to grow up and hang out with some older friends in college and even some who have dropped out of school. Maybe it is time for me to be in charge of my own life and see what's really happening in this big world. Presently it seems I spend most of my time on the sidelines and not in the game. I want to be in the game this spring break.
Maybe I have been fooling myself. If I choose to do the things I have just mentioned, I would be an idiot. My parents still trust me right now. I have lots of freedom, and I must ask myself if I want to tarnish that trust for one week of adventure. What will I lose if I get caught?
You might ask why I think I would get caught. Why, because I am not used to making sneaky choices that get me into trouble. I think it is okay for me to choose how I will spend my spring break, but I need to get a grip. No, it is not worth losing what I have spent the past several years building with my parents.
I am not just talking about trust. I realized as I was writing this that they trust me. And because of that trust, I have an incredible amount of freedom -- and that's what I wanted this spring break? I think I already have it, so I guess I'll choose to play it safe with my friends and my morals.
Who says I have to do drugs and drink to have a good time, anyway? I'll have a great spring break just doing my normal activities.
-- IT! (Private thoughts of the Indomitable Teen) is written by Cecilia A. Tucker under the editorial guidance of a panel of teenagers (in exchange for pizza and volunteer hours). Tucker is a licensed marriage and family therapist at the Counseling Center for New Direction in Seminole. Comments are welcome. You may write c/o: IT!, Xpress, the Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail Floridian@sptimes.com. If you are interested in being on the teen editorial panel, please contact Cecilia Tucker at revcecilia@msn.com.
Here's the rest of today's Xpress
| 
