Day 1 of the Big Trip

Tuesday

We started out with the best intentions of leaving my mom's house by 9am but had no luck doing so. Jon was feeling stressed out that we were not leaving as early as we had planned and the tension was in the air. It didn't bother me that we were off schedule. I think it was because I was just HOPEFUL we would get out the door at an early hour. I also think that actually getting in the car made the move so much more real. It has of course become more real with every step--packing boxes, loading the truck, moving to my mom's etc. I haven't been able to emotionally engage with leaving my friends and family thus far because there has been no space for reflection. It has been getting through the next 2 hours. There have been moments of sadness but mostly life has been full of taking care of all the little details. Unfortunately I rediscovered that when things get really stressful and I get emotionally constipated my stomach rebels against nature and I find myself in the bathroom more often than I would like. Perhaps that is my body's way of providing reflection time??

Anyway, gathering up all our stuff in the house took a while and then Jonny had to pack it in the car. It is a good thing he is gifted at packing the car (and the truck for that matter). We had to get the car inspected on our way out of town because it had expired in May and we didn't want to drive all over the nation with an expired sticker.

We arrived at the inspection place around 9am and had to wait for about an hour before the inspector guy touched our car. Finally he got to our car and I looked out the window and saw him driving around the inspection store in OUR car talking on HIS cell phone.

What in the world? Isn't there something wrong with someone trying to do a car inspection whilst talking on their cell phone?

A few minutes later the guy came in and wanted to talk to Jon. Jon left to talk to the guy and came back in a few minutes later almost in tears because the guy failed the inspection. Terrible timing! Jon was irritated at himself for waiting to do it at the last minute and irritated at the guy because they disagreed on the issue. The car makes a creaking noise when you turn the wheel all the way to the right or left and they guy said the car slowed down and that the noise indicates some kind of problem. Jon didn't feel the slowing or "binding" as the guy called it. The guy admitted he was not a mechanic and couldn't diagnose the problem but insisted that there was a problem and failed the car.

That meant we had to go to a different inspection place and see if it would pass there. Thankfully the wait at the second place was about 10 minutes and the car passed just fine. By this time it was 11am and we decided we should go ahead and get some lunch. Einstein Bros. was across from the inspection place so we ordered some sandwiches to go and were on the road by 11:30. Tuesday was our longest leg of the trip so Jon and I were anticipating a fairly miserable experience.

The boys have not had their regular routine for several days in a row and have been missing out on probably an average of 2 hours of sleep a day. Most of you know we are sleep freaks and don't let the boys miss out on sleep very often. We also value friendships and relationships and wanted to get all the extra time with friends and family before moving. Because of their lack of sleep we thought the boys would be delirious, whiny, toddlers the whole way.

I know lots of you have been praying for us (and the boys especially) and I have to say a thank you to the Lord because they boys did AWESOME in the car. They were totally content to read books and play with toys. They didn't even fuss about music in the car. We were able to listen to mommy and daddy music with NO whining!

I think the highlight of their day was sleeping in the hotel. They thought the beds were cool and of course LOVED having the TV. We tried putting them in the same bed but that was too new and stimulating so we each slept with a kid. It turned out to be a good thing because Isaac is very touchy feely with his feet at night and I think it would have bothered Ewan. Isaac also fell out of the bed around 5am. Jon put him back in bed--no harm done--or so we thought.

And that takes us to Wednesday.....