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This trip marks a series of firsts for all of us. I am sharing the first music video I have ever produced. Remember this when it is announced that I have inspirered a new category for next year's MTV Music Video Awards, "Best New Music Video Produced by Someone Who Doesn't Produce Music Videos. Ever"
DAY ONE: FROM THE HOME FRONT
I leave for downtown Chicago to meet up with Devra and Sarah in three hours. (Kim, a Chicago Mom Blogger friend, has graciously offered to pick me up so that my husband doesn't have to drive down there with all the kids and drop me off as they sob piteously in the backseat.) I'm all packed up (in fact, the following video was not taken with my new Sony Handycam, because I already packed it and I'm too paranoid to remove it from the bag for fear that I'll forget a cable or something!)
It's weird--spending most of my time with four kids, you'd think I'd be frothing at the mouth over the idea of a break. And I am excited, but every time I go somewhere without them--especially, yannow, ACROSS THE COUNTRY--I experience pangs of anxiety and guilt and some strange longing to stay close to them. And then I experience a moment like the following, and that longing just melts right away:
is it time to go yet???
"Video and pictures taken with Sony DCR-SR45 Hard Drive Handycam® Camcorder. To learn more, please visit www.sonystyle.com".
PRE ROAD TRIP
Over the past decade, almost all the trips I've taken have included several other people (namely, my hubby and kids). And since only a few of them are big enough to carry luggage, or at least, not actually BE part of the luggage, I usually find myself cramming clothes for six people into two suitcases--one medium-sized, one carry-on sized. (note: this usually means that at the last minute I discover 9-11 items that I absolutely need that won't fit in the suitcases, and those go in an empty Target bag. Luckily, even a four-year-old can carry a Target bag).
So on the rare occasion that I'm packing just for myself, I can't help but go a little crazy with the clothes and accessories and shoes. I mean, look at all that SPACE in there, just waiting to be filled up! Isn't it good to be as well-prepared as possible? Isn't it wise to bring along five pair of shoes and enough clothes and underwear to change at least twice a day in case something should happen? You never know--I could be invited to a ball. Or a rave. I could fall in a swamp one day and in quicksand the next. I could lose a shoe in a manhole. (I hear there have been a lot of manhole cover thefts recently). And it's always possible that I'll fall asleep first and the other ladies will freeze my bra in the hotel mini-fridge. Or at least chill it in the ice bucket.
I’m late to the party here, actually, because I just returned from a road trip. No cross-country quest...just four hours from Chicago to Lansing, MI to visit my sister; then four hours from Lansing to Ohio to visit our friends and their three kids; then six hours today to get back from Ohio to Chicago. (Actually, it was supposed to be 6 hours, but wound up being more like 8, due to relentless bathroom stops .)
But while it was a lot shorter than next week's adventure, there were certain challenges I don't anticipate encountering on the trek to San Francisco. For instance, next week I'll be riding with lovely, well-behaved, happy, and probably clean ladies.
Whereas this weekend's trip was shared with these guys:
(by the way, this picture of my youngest pretty accurately represents the overall mood for the last ½ of the trip.)
I was so packed in by items like these:
That I could barely move.
And instead of riding in one of these, as I can look forward to for next week, today I was riding in a 2000 Dodge Caravan covered in crumbs, wrappers, bottles and random pieces of plastic and emitting a funky smell from the backseat. (I would share a picture, but my husband would cry actual tears of manly humiliation.)
During today’s trip I was hit twice in the head with a flying toy:
and my two-year-old kept up a steady chorus of “Wan’ hear White an’ Nerdy on da WADIO!” To appease him and his squeaky little voice, I played it over and over and over.
The trip to San Francisco will take many more days than my Midwestern family excursion, but I figure as long as nobody throws toys at my head, screams about the music selection, tosses half-eaten burgers on the floor or smears chocolate all over her face and then cries for three straight hours, I’ll be one very happy—and relaxed—mama. Stay tuned, though, because you just never know what could happen when people stop being polite...and start Road Tripping.
--find out more about Meagan and the house 'o boys she'll be leaving on their own over at her blog.
Pictures taken with Sony DCR-SR45 Hard Drive Handycam® Camcorder. To learn more, please visit www.sonystyle.com
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