This past week my family and I went on a roadtrip to Indianapolis for a three day, end of spring break, getaway. From where we live in Ohio, it’s about a 4.5 hour drive. I planned to spend that drive time reading a book, chatting with my husband, or writing up a blog post about our trip (you know the fancy kind that includes all of the links to the fun we had and gives tip and tricks for anyone who plans to go). I had planned our travel time just right so that my kids would sleep most of the trip.
But none of that happened. Because, well because no one follows the itinerary! Ever! Don’t get me wrong we survived and we made some awesome memories. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I’m just saying, some magical blog post about how to travel with kids, save money, stay organized and see all of Indianapolis in a day…I don’t have it for ya! I’ll leave you instead with the 3 life lessons I learned on my family roadtrip to Indianapolis:
#1: You can NOT stop people from following their dreams
My husband seems to thoroughly enjoy his current job. It never dawned on me until this trip that he had some alternate dream jobs. Boy, was I wrong. As we loaded up the van, he became a top notch sports coach. He was clapping, pointing, shuffling kids and bags around and I even heard him say something about beating our goal “if we all work together”. I honestly did a double take to make sure he wasn’t wearing a neck whistle.
Two miles down the road he magically became a Tour Guide on a Dine and Drive Dinner Show! “And on your left are the cows!” (we see them every day. Literally, every.single.day) To be fair, his hand gestures and voice inflections were on point. “Well look at that! There on your right [insert palm up wave to the right] two seven elevens on the same exit!”
Then came his dance moves. From what I could tell, there were three basic moves that were used in alternating circuits: the Vertical Tae Bo punch (sometimes with a chest flare), the Laso (self-explanatory), and the Steering Wheel Slap (sometimes on the beat, sometimes not). On a positive note, his moves seemed to fluidly move back and forth between genres without hesitation!
After our first rest stop, he came back to our van muttering under his breath. It took me a few moments to realize he had transformed again, now into a NASA-qualified mathematician! He was calculating distances and times at the speed of an auctioneer! He then announced “we will not be stopping again and based on my calculations we will be reaching our destination right on time!” I found it all shocking because simple addition and subtraction seems to be so problematic when discussing his golf equipment budget…
#2 Money, Power and Itineraries Don’t Buy Happiness
Listen to me on this one! If you hear nothing else I say…it doesn’t matter how many Groupon coupons you collect, how many Pinterest posts on “Things to do with kids in Indianapolis” you read, or how many VIP tours you sign your family up for! They want to SWIM! That’s literally all they want to do. They don’t care if the pool is over-chlorinated or freezing cold. Heck, they don’t even care if it’s actually open! That’s where the precious children are planning to spend the ENTIRETY of the trip…don’t even try to fight it!
We rolled into our hotel at 11:30pm. I, of course, was the last one in carrying pillows and diaper bags and seventeen things for each kid that I remembered specifically saying, “Don’t bring that. You won’t need it.” I was shocked to find my 3.5 year old son, who needs help getting dressed on the usual, fully in his swim gear…eye goggles and floaties intact. “Buddy, the pool is closed for the night,” I explained. You would have thought I announced the death of Thomas the Train!!! There were tears, screams and some kind of maneuver on the floor that looked like the worm. All three of those things happened again the next day when they had to get out of the pool. And the third day, the same maneuvers!!
Thanks for nothing, Groupon!
#3 Don’t Stop Believin’
After three nights of fun followed by a 5 hour car ride home, we arrived back at our house. My husband carried my sleeping 3.5 year old inside, my daughter ran in and I just sat in the van by myself for just 30 seconds of alone time. I started wondering if I should have planned differently, organized better, or picked a different location. I slowly got out of the van and started to carry in the bag of dirty clothes. I staggered into the house. You know the way boxers stagger in the last round and the other boxer waits to see if he needs to hit him again or just wait until he topples over by himself. Yep, that’s the stagger I had.
I dropped the bag off in the laundry room and started to make my way up the stairs to the kids‘ rooms. My mind was saying “there is no Pinterest article, blog post, or organizing skill that can fix the amount of laundry you have to do now. These trips are exhausting! Just wait until the kids are older. That’s it, no more trips until they can do their own laundry!”
I kissed my sleeping son on the forehead then stopped in my daughter’s room. I whispered “I love you” as she drifted off to sleep. She popped open one eye and said, “Love ya too mom! Best spring break ever!”
And just like that I was back in the game! Strutting down the stairs, planning to look up a blog post on beach vacations, humming “Don’t Stop Believin’” as I went.
Now, as I write this blog post on Easter Sunday, I can’t help but think that God probably feels this same exact way quite a bit. That no one follows the itinerary! Ever! I can imagine Him putting his palm to his forehead and thinking “I had such great plans laid out for their life…and there they go again to the over-chlorinated hotel pool!” I also think he laughs at how prepared we think we are, with our floaties, our math calculations and our Groupon coupons! But I also know that he NEVER stops believing in us. He gave us the ultimate sacrifice, in his son Jesus Christ, to prove to us that he will never stop believing in us. No matter how off course we have wandered, He still believes in our potential!
On this Easter Sunday, my prayer for you all is this: No matter how far and rugged your detour away from God becomes, may you always come home to Him. Even if you have to boxing-style stagger your way in the door, come home! He is still awake, waiting for you! He may even be humming “Don’t Stop Believin’”…
Happy Easter, friends!
Safe travels!
Morgan Rae
