Monday, September 14, 2009

Possibly the Longest Car Trip of My Life

I'm accustomed to long car trips. Growing up, we regularly traveled 9 and 21 hours (by car) to arrive at our family vacation destinations. But, last night felt even longer. We were coming away from a wonderful weekend celebrating my sister's wedding (more about that later). It was such a fun weekend and Sunday (yesterday) was a relaxing day of cleaning up from the wedding and visiting with family until late afternoon.

We packed up and headed on our way in good spirits. I was especially in good spirits. Everything was right with my world. I had just spent the weekend with so many of the people I love and my little sister was happily married and on her way to a sunny destination with her new husband. That warm and fuzzy feeling was temporarily interrupted by four hours of major stomach cramping that reminded me of labor pains (This is actually a fairly regular occurrence for me. It just usually doesn't happen while we're traveling). The rest of the car trip involved a series of stops...

Stop #1: A potty stop for me at a food mart. No public restrooms.

Stop #2: A potty stop for me at a CVS.

Stop #3: Gas station stop to fuel up the van and I nursed Miriam.

Stop #4: A potty stop for me at a family restaurant and bar in who knows what little town.

Stop #5: A potty stop for Sadie along the side of the road, literally one minute after the last stop. At this point, Sam says something like, "Again? It's just you girls that keep making us have to stop!"

Stop #6: A potty stop for me at a truck stop. Lovely.

Stop #7: A potty stop for me at a McDonald's. There, I also nursed Miriam and Jamey bought the kids yogurt parfaits and himself some ice cream. You know he wasn't going to feed me anything. I was surprised he didn't come out with all the hamburgers and french fries that had in stock the way this trip was going.

During the course of these four hours riddled with seven stops, the kids tried offering some advice to their sick Mommy...

"Maybe you need a doctor." -Sadie
"Maybe you need some medicine." -Sadie
"How about some dinner?" -Sadie
"How about some drink?" -Sadie
"How about a nap? A looong nap?" -Sadie
"Maybe your pants are too tight." -Sam

The last two hours were fairly uneventful. My stomach stopped retching and I felt well enough to sing a couple lullabies that put the children to sleep. I rode the rest of the way home in a daze watching the clock and stunned over the fact that a trip that can take four and a half hours without potty breaks and traffic took us almost seven.

It's good to be home. Pin It

5 comments:

  1. Sam's comment made me laugh...out loud...with tears in my eyes. I like how he thinks! Sorry you had such a LONG ride home...xo

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  2. I like the one about stopping at the truck stop...."Lovely" that's what I would of said ....I hope you had some anti bacterial soap or something.....sorry to be giggling at your misery...but...if it makes you feel better...it sadly happens to all of us....this is yet another good reason to not leave home....you can use your own potty any time you like :)

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  3. Oh, the kids' comments made me laugh! (And I really needed a laugh right about right now.)

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  4. 'your pants are too tight'... now that's an engineer in the making.
    Once my parents were going on an oversees trip, and my son became sick while we visited very close to the time of their departure. I couldn't risk them getting sick, so we piled it in the car and drove, and stopped and drove and stopped, and drove... you know the scenario.. too well. longest trip of my life. Hope you are better, and the 'chronic' part of that is resolved soon too! Best- Laura
    oh and that 'lovely'.. that's hillarious. :)

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  5. You will look back on this and be glad you wrote out what the kids had to say...so cute! Sorry to hear it was a traumatic time...I'm glad you are home too! :)

    The picture you put as your header on the home page of your blog is beautiful!

    Blessings,
    Camille

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Just a friendly reminder, if you know me personally please try to refrain from using my name. There are those who may try to locate me, break into my pantry and steal my pickled beets. Thanks:-).

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