On the Road Again

I am back - and not just from a couple of road trips, but from some of the insanity of life with 3 kids and two jobs!  I will be honest and tell you that I have had this post in my head and the layout (which I drove myself crazy to do) ready for about 2 1/2 weeks now, but just couldn't get my act together. However, today is a new day and surprisingly I am feeling very motivated for a Monday (this was ready Monday, but not my photos)!  Time to get my creative muses back into the swing of things.


About four weeks ago an unfortunate situation put my brother, mother, father and myself back in a car again and travelling along the Trans Canada highway.  It's been over 20 years since the 4 of us have done this, and it was, in spite of the reason behind the trip, a great time. It really made me think about all those trips we made as kids back to Montreal to visit our family, and all the things we used to do to pass the time in the car.  The funny thing is we all had the same thoughts - I told my Mom that he had better stay on his side, and he said the exact same thing to his wife about me, and my mother had already jokingly relayed it to a cousin!  We used to draw an imaginary line down the centre of the back seat and heaven forbid if one of us crossed that line - "MOOOMMM, (s)he's on my side!".  Before seat belts were such a big deal we actually used to take turns spreading ourselves across the floor of the back seat so we could each lie down. In the "days of old" there was no such thing as DVD players in the car (and no Mini Vans!) or even mini TV sets. No I-pods, DS's or anything else electronic.  Can you imagine?  We actually had to play games or read books!  To pass the time we used to record the origin of license plates, (although there weren't too many other than Quebec and Ontario), play 'Geography', count Christmas lights on 'our sides', play cards,  or colour. We also had family sing-a-longs to such favourites as Fiddler on the Roof, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, or A Chorus Line - give us a show tune and we were ecstatic!  
So what did we do as adults?  Well, no show tunes - Dad only had jazz. Instead, we talked, caught up and reminisced.  We talked about exercise, health, family, careers and what we might have done if we had to do it over again (career wise).  We both managed to stay on our own side!  The truth is, we discovered that we really do enjoy each other's company and we are fortunate to be in each other's lives.


Contrast that with a very recent road trip to New Jersey and Long Island with my kids - a little less relaxing. They have it all - lots of  leg room and each has their own seat,  a DVD player (with wireless head phones no less), laptops, or an I-touch or I-pods - they literally don't have to speak for an entire 9 hour car ride and yet somehow they manage to grate on each other.  I know it could be worse, and occasionally we still play some of those old car games like checking out license plates, and most recently we reviewed the Rolling Stone Top 500. I do, however, look forward to the days when they might enjoy each other's company a little more. 

This was one of our stops on the way
to NJ that became a tradition.

We have travelled to the States ever since they were babies and I remember the days when we had to listen to Raffi and Sharon, Lois and Bram over and over again and try to keep kids who were sick of car seats entertained.  We were so happy when they could appreciate the Beatles, and yes, Musicals (well maybe not hubby!), so we didn't have to hear "one elephant when out to play, upon a spider's web one day...." or "baby beluga in the deep blue sea...".  Below is a layout of one or two trips from when they were little. There were very few trips that Hubby didn't take a picture of them sitting in the back with their eyes glued to the TV. 

Let's hope the next car trip in December is better than the last!


The road trip kind of day.....