This week we hit our groove. And it’s as glamorous as it is mundane, and I’m ok with that.
After touring the beautiful Bryce Canyon we landed in a vacation town in St. George, Utah where we threw down our anchor for the week. The condo community had a pool, tennis courts, a game room, and a jacuzzi. And the best part? Our room had its own bathroom. What a luxury!
During the week we all fanned out and gave ourselves what we needed. For my eldest that meant a lot of screen time and online learning. He did a coding class he loves, joined Model UN in his online school, and did remote saxophone lessons. The rest of the time he snuck away to watch shows. Basically, he was thrilled to stay put.
My daughter convinced me to take her to Target where she got a birthday dress for her upcoming day, a halloween outfit, and very stylish “hiking” pants that she HAD to have in order to hike properly. She and my middle son also spent a lot of time in the pool.
My husband went on two EXTRA hikes during the week. The minute he put down his last Zoom call he was out the door. Thankfully my up-for-anything daughter tagged along. (I dread the day she loses that 6 year old “yes” attitude.) The rest of us were all hiked out.
And me – I was horizontal when I could be. In the mornings I was three teachers and a mom. I dug into my depths to find the patience to explain quarters and dimes to a frustrated 5 year old, read a story that my oldest “needed” me to read, and begged my middle to quit poking everyone and get back to work.
I take on a persona during this part of my day. I effortfully turn into the mom who doesn’t mind being FULLY at her kids’ service. I make lunches, try to keep them on track, upload 49 worksheets a day (literally a job onto itself) and wait for it to be over.
Around 2:00 I go into my room to recuperate. At that point I don’t care if the kids are watching Eddie Murphy’s Raw (tell me you did too at that age?), I just don’t want to hear from them. I lie in bed scrolling, reading, working, or talking to a friend. And next thing you know it’s afternoon and the kids want to do something.
I signed up for this so I can’t complain. It would have been my plight even without COVID if we had taken the trip we meant to take around the world. If anything, the plus side for me is that you’re all in the same boat more or less. I’m not the only one who has reluctantly turned into a homeroom teacher/slave.
The weekends are in complete contrast with the weekdays. Once Friday hits we venture into the unknown. And I mean the UNKNOWN. For instance, this week, even as we went through our frantic packing routine on Friday morning, we still didn’t know where we would be sleeping that night or for the rest of the week. We didn’t even know where we’d be driving to.
(We did know we’d be getting a smoothie on the way out of town. Some plans are written in stone.)
I had a Zoom call with girlfriends this week and they asked where I was going next. When I answered that I had no idea they both got nauseous. And it made me realize –
It turns out Tsuri and I can handle living with quite a bit unknown. And he can even more than me!
But traveling through Switzerland or Costa Rica and deciding on hotels last minute is one thing. Road tripping with three kids who get hungry and tired (see last post) means that our car turns into a pumpkin at a certain point and all hell breaks loose. At that point even Marco Polo would want to know where the feeding was happening. Becuase around the corner are tears, yelling, whining, complaining, and for me, a tightly spun ball of stress silently swirling in my upper abdomen threatening to explode out of my mouth.
So basically, our trip is taking shape. During the weekdays we look a lot like you. We cook meals, do school, catch up on emails, chase work tasks, hide in our rooms, and do a little inner dance after bedtime. During the weekends we venture out into mystery and adventure.
Not leave you hanging, we ended up in a motel near Lake Powell on Friday night after driving a few hours to Page, Arizona. We decided to give it a couple nights and see if we like the area enough to spend the week. Although there is a VERY strange vibe to this town we decided to stay. Mostly because the desert around us is insanely magical.
This evening Tsuri and I spent an hour scouting Airbnb locations (we’ve gotten good at being home stay detectives). So – we got one step closer to knowing where we will be moving to tomorrow and spending our week. Now that’s what I call advance planning 🙂
