Friday, November 8, 2013

Road Trip!


                In the early years after we moved to New York, I found a neighbor who shared my frustrations in the spring when the weather got “warmer”. I put that in quotes, because if I am still wearing fleece layers, I do not believe “warm” should in any way be used to describe the temperature. People seem to think 40°F, after a winter far below that, is perfect weather for the shorts and t-shirt that had shifted to the back of the drawer. They are wrong, every year, but they keep at it. This is the definition of optimism in upstate NY. It does not work for me. I need to bake in the sun.

                So my new friend and I were commiserating about the cold, and contemplating our children’s upcoming spring break. We didn’t have any plans at that point, and perhaps we had a few too many cups of coffee, but out of this conversation, arose a plan for our Spring Break Road Trip! And we were excited! We were going to get warm, whatever it took!

                The plan was simple: drive. We were ready to pile our four kids, sunscreen, snacks, etc. into my minivan, and drive south. If we had to go to Key West to get warm, were ready! We mapped a rough route, noting who we knew along the way (family in Long Island, and the Carolinas, friends in Georgia and Florida, all the way down the coast) that we could visit, to break up the driving, stretch our legs and rest our heads. We had notes, and left each other, ready to fill in our significant others, and start contacting our kin. We were going on a Road Trip for Spring Break!

                I think it took a couple of days, or perhaps for me it was just the look on Fowler’s face when I shared it with him, for me to realize the gaping flaw in this plan: time, or the lack of time. Spring Break is a week, and with all we had planned, it was very likely that we would get to a beach somewhere in South Florida with precisely enough time to dip our toes in the water, while basking for a minute in that warm sun, before piling back into the van, to make the long drive home. It was exciting to plan, but that would have been crazy. At some point, we came to our senses, and toughed it out until the weather warmed. Eventually, I shed the fleece layers, and we had summer in NY. Though we didn’t make that trip, Susan and I, with our four kids, have made a number of road trips in that van, and I will always remember that time of fevered planning with a smile.

Then yesterday, somewhere on I-85, driving through the Carolinas in our newly leased Subaru, loaded to the hilt (but not with snacks. This is a new car, no eating in the car…yet.)  I realized I am now on that trip. Only this time, I get to bask in the sun for a while, before we begin the trip back north again. But for now, as we drive, I am getting warmer.

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