- My family would drive from Canada to Florida every March to spend time with my grandparents.
- I have some of the best memories of spending time at their condo.
- It was a privilege to be able to spend so much time with my family.
For most 8-year-olds, waking up at four in the morning would be an unwelcome experience. But for me, waking up on a frigid March morning in 1998, I was ready to go. It was our first family road trip , and we were headed down to my grandparents’ Condo in Marco Island, Florida. And, in what was probably a bid to keep me quiet, my parents had bought me a brand new Gameboy with Pokémon — I was raring to go.
I didn’t know it yet, but this was the first step in what would become one of the most significant annual events of my entire life .
We would drive from Canada to Florida
Each year, March Break became defined by heading from our home in Ottawa, Canada , down to “The Condo” (it achieved proper noun status in my family long ago) — the year-round balmy Florida weather a welcome and almost magical contrast to the iced-over roads and gray skies of Ottawa in March.
My grandparents bought the condo after they retired in the early 90s, and my childhood winters became punctuated by two weeks of glorious heat each year…