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Thanksgiving Travels
Next week, we are headed to Atlanta for Thanksgiving. We are sharing the holiday with my aunt, grandfather and cousins. Though it sounds like a small affair, it’s far from it. When you add in the spouses and children, it is a mighty large crowd. My aunt is hosting 28 for dinner. With a guest list that long, some would call her gracious. I would call her a miracle worker. She cooks all week to prepare for the feast. There are restaurants that will serve less food on Nov. 27.
It has been several years since we saw this side of the family. We are so overdue for visit that only a few of my cousins have even met Jaley. Making our visiting delinquency even worse is that my family isn’t our only tie to HotLanta. Scott and I both went to college in Atlanta and Scott spent his first 10 years there.
Why has it been so long? Simply put, we were scared. We were scared to make the long drive with our girls in the car.
I know that many of you make much longer and more frequent car trips with your kids. I applaud you. We on the other hand avoid long car trips like the plague. For all of our daughters’ strengths (as bragging parents, we feel there are many), sitting in the car is definitely not one of them. This summer, my in-laws were staying only three hours away. We begged off. Neither Scott nor I was strong enough to last through three hours of fighting, bickering and screaming in the backseat. Before you ask, yes, we have a portable DVD player. It only marginally helps the situation. For every one minute spent quietly watching a DVD, three minutes are spent arguing over which DVD to watch.
Here we are four years later. We are finally brave enough to make the trip. Do I think the girls are ready for the car ride? No. But they just have to tough it out. The chance to introduce Jaley to her cousins and spend the holiday with family and friends is much more important.
Some trips in life are more about journey than the destination. This trip is solely about the destination. We want the journey to be as quick (and painless) as possible. If you see a red Mazda headed south on I-85, please let us pass. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Gigi appears Fridays on TriangleMom2Mom. To read more about Gigi, go to her blog Stroller Lane.
Gigi Harrell
Gigi is a TriangleMom2Mom featured blogger, appearing every Friday.
She's a mom of two daughters, ages 4 and 1½. Gigi’s path to a career in writing took the scenic route. She graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Industrial Engineering and a husband-to-be. After a few years of work and lots of play in California, they returned to their roots in the South. They landed in North Carolina where she graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with an MBA. She worked in marketing for a large multinational company, but career priorities changed with the arrival of her girls. She stepped off the corporate track to start her own business. She now works full-time as a mom and part-time running her business and writing freelance. Gigi lives in Cary with her husband and two daughters balancing the havoc and harmony of everyday life.
Comments
We are headed to Atlanta as well.
We drove to Atlanta two years ago on the day before Thanksgiving. The trip normally takes six hours at the most (we actually go to Marietta), but that day it took 10 hours. It was miserable. If you can avoid leaving on Wednesday, please do.
Good luck.
Oh, to make traveling easier, we purchased two portable DVD players. No more arguing, unless they are arguing over who gets to watch what movie.
Quick update. We survived. Somehow we made it from Raleigh to Atlanta and back again without staging our own rendition of Mutiny on the Bounty. Maybe we are turning a corner on traveling with the girls (then again - maybe we were just lucky).
Yeah! Fingers crossed it continues!