Nuts-up. Off the rocker. Round the bend. Gone crazy.
That must be me, because somehow, for some reason, next Monday I will be getting on a plane with my kids and flying to Canton, Ohio (never been to Ohio). Then there will be an eight-hour car drive. To Canada. Then six days on a beautiful lake, all three of us in one room, sharing a cabin with three of my best friends, none of whom have children and who may or may not know what the hell they're in for.
All without Eric.
Here is what I'm imagining: lots of trees. A glassy lake. Trips for ice cream and to the petting zoo. Long conversations with the ladies. Relaxation and lots of laughter.
And...my kids fighting over legos. Having meltdowns over crayons. Refusing to go to sleep at night in a weird bed, with their sister's leg punching them in the kidney. Getting stung by bees, bit by mosquitoes, and complaining that the lake water is too cold, the sand to sandy, and the food not exactly like we have at home.
Me losing my shit with my kids in front of my friends. Me throwing my children out of a moving automobile. Me leaving them in Canada.
And still, I'm sooooo excited! I can't wait, really. And I'm actually going to take my camera, for once, so there will be evidence that I actually pulled it all off.
That is, provided we all make it home in one piece. Keep your fingers crossed, and send me any road-trip-with-kids advice you have. I've got goodie bags packed with games, art projects, pipe cleaners, and dolls. I've got DVDs, music, and books on cd. And, for now, my sanity.
What else do I need?
Sounds like you're going to have an awesome time (your kids will be just fine...) Take lots and lots of photos!
ReplyDeleteMaybe you need this...
ReplyDeleteWhere you are going (I'm already getting teary thinking about it) was built, by hand, by my grandfather and his friends in the 1950's. I started going to Charmyr (so named after my grandfather CHARles and my grandmother MYRtle--my g'pa, with only an 8th grade education, was a whiz with words and loved acronym-y constructions) --when I was just 3 weeks old. Every subsequent summer come Memorial Day we'd pack the Caprice Classic to the hilt and drive north for three months. I'd spend all day in the lake like a little fish, diving for rocks and snails and mussels. We'd ski, kneeboard, play gin, drink gin (well, not so much me), watch loons preen, fish, eat fish for brekkie, catch frogs, read, color, play marathon games of Monopoly, watch the diamonds of sunlight on the water. Stony Lake is the most important landscape of my life. Nothing can change that...A & N can only add to it, to the richness of the legacy I inherited and wish, so much, to share with those I love. It is a place of peace and magic and joy. You've got your posse at your back JJ--we're gonna have the time of our lives.