April 25, 2011 | 7:56 am

The End of Spring Break + Monday + Teenager = Mommy Needs a Vacation

Posted by Ilana Angel

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My son has been on spring break for a week.  If you count the weekends that bookend the week, it’s been a total of 9 days.  When you are on a rigid schedule of waking up at 5:45 every morning, having 1 day to sleep in, let alone 9, will throw you off and make getting back into the groove hard.

He had a great vacation.  He spent a lot of time with his friends, slept in, and had no real structure, which he craved.  He got up everyday whenever he wanted, and decided what he wanted to do.  He was never bored, just mellow about his plans and let the week fall into place all by itself.

He went to some amusement parks, the movies, a couple of parties, a Los Angles Galaxy game, which let’s face it with David Beckham playing was just as much for me as it was for him.  He also went to the concert of a man who is, in my opinion, the sexiest man alive.  Prince.

Many people may not agree but let me tell you, Prince is divine.  The concert was amazing, he was fabulous, and looks the same at 52, as he did 25 years ago when I saw him in concert for the first time.  It was an incredible show and I was surprised my son knew the words to all his songs.

It’s funny that to me Prince is an icon and legend, yet my son knows him from the radio where is played as “classic” or an “oldie”.  The music I listened to when I was his age is now retro to the kids, but is still current to me.  The Prince concert was a great thing to share with my kid.

I remember when spring break began we decided he would lay low and not spend too much money as he has big plans for the summer and we would focus our money on that.  Having a chill week at home however, ends up being way more expensive than expected.  Home is not cheap.

An afternoon of lunch and movie costs $20, and if he goes at night, the cost jumps to $25.00.  An amusement park sets you back about $50 even if you have a coupon because a bottle of water costs $5.00.  The days of cheap weeks at home doing “nothing’ are gone. “Nothing” costs money.

It is all my pleasure and I would not change a thing of course.  He is my only child and so I make it work but I feel for my friends who 2,3 or 4 kids and have to pay for nothing for that many kids.  Teenagers are expensive and quite frankly exhausting.  This age of 13 – 16 is particularly tiring.

His social life is out of control and he needs rides to everything so I am a taxi service.  The amount of schlepping I do is insane.  I find myself looking forward to his getting his driver’s license soon, which is weird because I cannot imagine I will ever let him get behind the wheel of a car.

We want our kids to walk, then when they do we want them to sit still.  We can’t wait for them to talk, then pray they will shut up for 5 minutes, we worry about their safety when we are driving, cannot imagine the day they will be the driver, then look forward to not having to schlep.

Being a parent is the best job ever and I am grateful my son and I have such a wonderful relationship.  The next few years will be challenging and harrowing, as well as exciting and promising, and I am hopeful our close knit and honest bond will lead us through his high school years.

It is 6:30 on Monday morning and my son has hit the snooze button 4 times.  I will wake him up in a few minutes and tell him he is late for school.  He will freak out, run around screaming he has missed the bus, and then I will tell him I am going to drive him to school on his first day back.

Perhaps it’s mean to stress him out, but it will be entertaining. Before I know it he will be away at college and thinking back to these times will make me laugh as I sit with my cats waiting for him to come visit.  His spring break adventures at home will soon be over and so I’m hanging on.

He will be very appreciative for my driving him all the way to school and will tell me I am a great mom and he loves me.  He will never now it was a selfish act to just so I could be with him for a few extra moments before the hustle and bustle of school starts back up again.

He has had his vacation and now I need one.  A few days to relax and recoup from my kid’s spring break.  All the driving, and late nights have left me exhausted but I have to go to work.  I love my kid, glad he had a nice vacation, and hope he glides back into school.

I won’t tell him he can’t drive until he is 21 for a little while longer.  No need upsetting him.  I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday and every day since is etched in my mind.  He is my greatest joy and driving him to school is a pleasure. Wait just a minute…

He just screamed, jumped out of bed like it was on fire, and when I told him I would drive him, he hugged me, said I was the best mom ever.  He will get to school in mom’s taxi with time to spare, which was always the plan.  Enjoy your Monday, and keep the faith.