Building

Spring break has arrived. As with most traditional vacation breaks, it means far less to me that I wish it did. Annoyingly, employers outside the education system do not keep up with the childhood traditions of Christmas, spring and summer breaks.

Kelly's spring break will also be a bit different this year. She is spending her break with 240 other high school students and adults from our church and community on a mission trip to Mexico. This trip, which our church has been taking for more than 20 years, sends kids to build houses in communities around Rosarito. The trip is extremely well organized (it is run by Amor Ministries), a lot of hard work, and ultimately very rewarding for everyone involved. The families will get a solid roof and walls around them, and these American kids from the affluent suburbs will get a first-hand look at both the poverty in which much of the world lives, and how little wealth matters when it comes to the dignity of human relationships.

I delivered Kelly to the church at 5 am on Sunday; the buses were rolling by 6 am, and they reached their camping site by the evening. The students will spend the week in tents in a closed and guarded compound, and venture out to the job sites with their teams each day this week. Each team will build a basic 11 x 22 wood frame house for a specific family they will meet and get to know over the course of the week.

Coming off a successful two-week run of Guys and Dolls performances and two thirds of a year of high academic demands and achievements, Kelly really wanted a chance to relax for spring break. Once the departure date approached, however, she warmed again to the idea of the trip. She will get a chance to put the Spanish she has learned so well to use, and she may even learn how to drive a nail. We have no doubt that she will come back changed by the experience.

This being the 21 century, the church is maintaining a blog for the trip, for which we are grateful. The first step in the weaning of a parent is preschool, when the child is away for a morning a few days a week. Then comes elementary school, with the full day away from the house, and some homework besides. High school takes the child even further away, with more curricular and extracurricular activities. This is a whole new arena, though. Kelly is off doing something tremendously impactful in a community far from here, someplace we will likely never visit. She is going to have moments of struggle, inspiration and growth that are completely beyond our influence. As much I'd still like to share all of Kelly's experiences, this is a good thing.