You are cordially invited to join me as I freak out the night before I leave for vacation. Which is now. Tomorrow night (well as I write this it’s almost midnight, so it’s practically tonight!) after Bobby gets off work, we are packing the kids up in the ol’ station wagon and heading off on a seven-hour drive to the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. Ok, actually we are only driving halfway there tomorrow night ’cause I Pricelined us a sweet deal on a 3-star hotel in Charleston, WV. But the real reason we are only driving halfway is because a) Sophie is a terrible traveller, and b) because my parents live on top of a mountain, 4 miles up a very winding road with absolutely no light whatsoever and driving there at night with a cranky 18-month-old is just not fun! Or good for my nerves.
Oh, did I mention we are going to my parents’ vacation home? Did I mention that I NEVER IN MY LIFE thought I’d ever use the phrases “my parents” and “vacation home” in the same sentence? Well, much to my surprise, my parents got crazy a couple of years ago and built a house on top of a mountain 7 hours from where we all live. This is the area where my dad grew up, and apparently you can take the boy out of the mountains, but you can’t take the mountains out of the boy, or something like that. ANYHOO, my parents’ FORTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY is this Sunday. Can you believe that?? FORTY YEARS!! AMAZING!! So my family, and my brothers and their families (8 grandkids in all!) are all going up tp the moutaintop for a big ol’ happy family celebration!!
I am really excited, but I am sooooo not ready to go! My bags aren’t packed, the laundry’s not done, and very few things on my huge list are crossed off. I made a last-minute trip to CVS and Target tonight to get random crap we need and now I’m just tired. Tired, tired, tired! Can I just click my heels together and be there please? With no long Sophie-screaming car ride and no sleepless night in a hotel with Sophie crawling all over me??? Please?? Beam me up, Scotty!!
Allright. I’ve got to get Joshua’s underwear out of the dryer. Somehow today I managed to do all the kids’ laundry EXCEPT Joshua’s underwear. I am a true TALENT, I tell ya what!! Good thing the college town at the bottom of the mountain in Virginia has a Wal-Mart in case I forget any essentials. And guess what ELSE they have?? A CVS!!!! And there’s another one in the next town over!! Woo-hoo!! Maybe my dad is right, and Virginia IS the Promised Land. I guess I’ll find out…if I ever get done packing!
