Parenting Without A License

Family Getaway

Posted by Kimberly on March 13th, 2008 — Posted in Kipple

Winter Wonderland

Originally uploaded by Kimberly Rastin

Sure, it might be nice to head down south for March Break. To take a break from the windchill and the snowstorms to frolic on a beach instead of vacationing in our own backyard (so to speak). But then, if we did that, we would have missed sights like this one, the magical winter fairyland that followed us down the highway from home straight up to the American border. And that wouldn’t have been worth the flight into sunshine.

I have to admit, I was dreading this March Break. Given the way I’ve been barely hanging on even with the luxury of having Diva Girl away at school five days a week, the very idea of a full nine days home with both of The Ladies made me want to crawl into my bed and pull the covers over my head for the week. Which in turn made me feel even worse about everything; nobody wants to start each day with her children marking the hours until bedtime, after all.

But that’s where I was afraid we were heading: a full week spent drowning in kid crap, refereeing sibling rivalries, and doing the broken record routine with the house rules–all set to a soundtrack of Hannah Montana.

Instead, we piled into my parents’ car for another family road trip.

I have to say, when I stop and think about how well traveled The Ladies are–this past year alone they’ve been to Niagara Falls, The Atlantic Provinces and Eastern Seaboard, the Toronto Zoo, and Northern Michigan (twice)–it fills me with pride as a mother. I love knowing that my children are not missing out, that even though on paper we linger around the poverty line, in reality their lives are full and rich and brimming with experience.

I also know that I have my parents to thank for a large part of those experiences. It’s not just the driving I’m grateful for, though. Or the willingness to share a hotel room. It’s the memories.

It’s the time spent with Grampa in the hotel pool. It’s the multiple trips to see the Easter Bunny. It’s hearing the Zen Baby order “Miley Cyrus faces” for dinner and having someone to share it with.

It’s about having a family. And about knowing that however much I may feel like I need to get away, when it comes right down to it I’d rather get away with them than get away from them.