But now it means reading and writing like a crazy history maniac. "Spring Break" is a fallacious term in my case; it should be called "Spring Catch-up" or "Spring Hold-on-for-dear-life!"
I made myself nocturnal for about four days, in preparation for departure. Then on the 9th, I slept all day, got up in time for class, and left right after class finished (about 6:30 pm). I rushed home, grabbed Jasper, picked up some dinner, and then hit the road. We officially left for Michigan at 7:30 that evening; we arrived at my parents' doorstep at exactly 6:30 the next morning. Surprisingly, it was not too bad of a drive. Jasper got carsick going through Bedford, but that's to be expected - Bedford is a gorgeous little town, but the road I take each time twists and turns in a seemingly-nonsensical manner amidst the Blue Ridge Mountains, and even I have to fight not to be sick going through it. Aside from that, there were no troubles.
Jasper was overjoyed when we pulled into my parents' driveway. As soon as I unlocked the front door, he rushed in to see if anything had changed since the last time we were here. I sluggishly unloaded the car, greeted Dad and the other two dogs, then tried to start reading. No luck; my body was adamant that sleep must precede research. A short struggle later, I gave in. After a lengthy nap, my body and mind were both ready to start working. There have been few pauses in my work since then. I start reading while I eat my breakfast each morning, and don't stop until dinnertime. After dinner I have a break, then work some more, then finish around 8:00 or so. It's been far more like History Boot Camp than Spring Break!
All this reading has had the unfortunate effect of giving me some very odd dreams. In the past few nights, I have had a picnic in a trench in WWI (and woke myself up by muttering aloud "This is so inaccurate"), donned the attire of a flapper and danced the Lambeth Walk, and dropped by parachute into Yugoslavia. Thank goodness I'm not studying the Russian Revolutions!
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