Family Vacation Memories

Most of our family vacations growing up seemed to revolve around family reunions or other family gatherings. I loved that about our vacations. We always got to see cousins or visit our Grandparents. We always tried to be frugal in our travels which meant homemade meals, even on the go. Mom always packed our big blue cooler full of sandwich fixings and fresh fruit and carrot sticks for our travel snacks. Dad was always concerned with making good time, so we only ever made stops for gas and the occasional flashing red and blue lights. You learned early to use preventative maintenance for your bladder. You went to the bathroom ever time we stopped, even if you didn't have to go cuz Dad wouldn't stop again until we needed gas. Today I have super-human bladder abilities, and I attribute it to our family vacations.

Some of our favorite past times during travel was Alphabet game, where we silently (looking back, I'm sure this was Mom's suggestions. Sneaky.) tried to find the letters of the alphabet in order from A-Z on road signs, trucks, and licence plates. Madd libs, where you would fill in the blanks with random nouns, adjectives, and verbs and then read the silly story out loud. Sometimes we would sing silly songs like "Horsey, Horsey", and I remember Wyn teaching us "Hagdelina Magdelina" one time. Most of the time I couldn't sleep in the car due to excitement, and enjoyed staying up late to keep the driver company while everyone else slept. Both Mom and Dad would occasionally let us "drive". We could sit in the middle on the blue cooler and steer with the car in cruise control. This was a special treat because we were never old enough to drive legally so it was very exciting.

There were several times we would be driving on icy roads in a blizzard, or on a mountain road with a steep drop off where I would get so frightened I thought for sure we would die. My imagination would get going with all the "what if's" till I would be close to tears. Then I'd peel my gaze from the impending doom and look up and see that Dad was driving. He never looked worried or distressed. I remember coaxing my emotions away from fear and back to peace as I told myself that Dad loves us and would never let anything bad happen to us. Everything will be alright while Dad is driving. It always was. We never fell of any cliffs or slid head on into a semi truck as my imagination told me would happen.

I have found that throughout my life this principle has held true. Dad has always lead us to safety. He loves us and protects us from harm and danger. His calm demeanor helps to bring peace to all he comes in contact with. And if you take enough road trips with him, you may be able to break some records when it comes to bladder control!