Embarking On An Epic Adventure

Normally a move, even a cross-country move, is not that big of a deal. What makes it epic? Three kids. We woke early to load the truck and clean the apartment, with the help of some good friends. Once the truck left, we hopped into the car to my sister-in-law's home, where the kids are staying, for one more night with them before we leave bright and early tomorrow morning. At moments like this some people would say they had many thoughts go through their minds. But me, I've had one thought go through my mind many times: are we going to survive? Then, without knowing she provided the answer to my question, my two-year old little girl organized my sister-in-law's sandals by color and said, "It's my sandal rainbow." Suddenly, a shimmer of hope was visible beneath my cloudy thoughts. Maybe the kids will comprehend and be patient with our plan and moving schedule. We'll find out tomorrow morning. One thing I do know is that since we need to do this together to be successful, I need to resist my natural impatience and really try to show some extra love an compassion during this trip. I'd rather everyone be happy than rigidly obedient to my time-line. For example, it's my kids' last night with their cousins and they wanted to watch an episode of Spider Man while lying in bed. It is already late, and my natural inclination was to say, "No way, Jose. It's time for bed." When I came downstairs, I asked the other dad if he usually lets his son do that. Another person overheard and said, "Uh oh. Someone's losing this battle." I replied, "It's worth losing some battles if it means winning others when we're on the road." Maybe that means I'm buying obedience instead of earning it. Maybe it means I want my son to have a memorable last day with his cousin. Either way, it's about 9 pm and we put on an episode of Spider Man. We'll see if it pays off.

*I also have to mention that my son was anxious about the upcoming trip and couldn't sleep. He finally agreed to go to bed with me. So, we both went to bed in his bed. But, my son also invited a two-foot tall, hard plastic T-Rex toy to share the bed with us. The bed wasn't very big. I was practically falling off the edge, with the T-Rex's hard plastic foot in my back. I was able to get up when he was asleep and hop into bed. But in the middle of the night my son hopped into our bed. There wasn't room for all three of us, so I spend half the night on my side with my face up against the side wall. Talk about losing battles.