We have finally arrived. We traversed five states and drove at least 30 hours (not including stops along the way), with enough belongings to last us a month, (my husband will drive up with the moving truck in a month).
But, there was a fun twist in our (already-challenging) trip.
My husband asked a buddy over the phone yesterday: "Can you imagine anything worse than driving 30 hours with two kids experiencing severe diarrhea and two other kids throwing up?"
Yep.
The hardest part was when our 5-year old deliberately threw up (3 times!) in her older brother's lap - to avoid getting vomit on her pink blanket draped across her own lap. She seemed quite proud that she had thought of it, and had kept herself relatively clean. Our 7-year old was so upset.
We laughed a lot, but quietly, so that our 7-year old didn't notice.
We were welcomed by family at different points along the way - sometimes without hugs - as most of us were covered with throw-up, or poop.
We laughed.
Another difficult part was saying goodbye to my parents after a short visit en route. My 2-year old asked me why I was sad as we drove away. My daughter said, "Because, that is her mommy and daddy, and she loves them and doesn't want to leave them." It made me cry even more when she said that because I realized that my own kids will be married soon and will probably move far away from me.
I tried to laugh.
We also enjoyed cleaning up blow-outs in car seats, eating more chips and m&m's than imaginable, drinking more gatorade and diet coke than seems humanly possible, seeing a deer next to the side of the road, watching the climate and landscapes change drastically, visiting more gas stations' restrooms than desirable, and, most of all, being together.
So, we laughed a lot and cried during this last four days of our Big Move. Luckily, we laughed more than we cried... mostly because it was so unbelievably traumatic... but also because we will remember this trip forever - and it's a lot more fun to remember laughing than crying.
3 comments:
I'm so glad you have captured this for posterity. It will definitely go down as the culminating event of your time in Tucson and the beginning of the rest of your lives. Wow. What a story.
We had a trip like that with Roger when he was about 10 months old. We went through all his clothes that were easily accessible and ended up putting him in an old t shirt of Kent's that he used for pajamas. Rog was disgusted with the whole experience and we captured a snapshot of him that we treasure to this day sitting in his car seat giving us the evil eye. The blow outs (multiple) were disgusing at the time but precious moments in our memories.
Luv you guys. So glad you arrived safe and sound.
AB
Funny! We're glad you made it there safely. We started missing you before we were even sure you were gone.
Glad you made it safe! And road trips are always a fun memory-- as traumatic as they can sometimes be. In fact, this no brings up a certain cross-country move not too long ago that still makes me shudder...and laugh:)
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