Road Trip

I made the 5 hour trip to my parents house this week with the kids. We pulled into the driveway a little earlier than my mom expected. She came outside and greeted us with, “Wow! You made good time!” It was at that point that I realized I had arrived at a new destination in my parenthood journey. The Roadtrip Without Stops. I had driven 5 hours with my 2 children (mostly) happy in the backseat. They fed and watered themselves from a lunchbox I had pre-packed. They snacked when they needed to. I only heard about a half dozen rounds of “HOW MUCH LONGER??” We made no potty stops, and I didn’t have to stop to change diapers/find pacifiers/spoonfeed/nurse/change outfits from blowouts or leaks. The car even cooperated and I made it on 1 tank of gas. It was amazing.

It seems it wasn’t that long ago that I would make the 1 hour trip to my Grandma’s in Florida with fear and trembling. I’d pack a bag for the day that would make you think we were staying a week. Then I’d strategically plan the trip so that the little ones would not be hungry and would be sleepy, but not so sleepy that they’d get so upset they couldn’t actually fall asleep. After adhering to a carefully masterminded plan to avoid screaming infants in the backseat that I could do nothing about whilst travelling at 70 mph, I’d turn around and head for home that afternoon hoping for the same. One infant would scream as soon as it got dark. Another infant would scream….just to scream.

So as I unloaded the car, and the kids unloaded their own stuff, that they had packed themselves, I smiled and thought. “Priceless,” and “I could definitely get used to this!”

#11 MDM