Solo Flight

I have made the journey from MA to NJ countless times.  But Friday marked the first time I have traveled on my own for three hours with two children.  This doesn't seem like it should be an issue, but the underlying anxieties take hold and make everything that much more difficult for me.  First, I have to worry if Joe Joe the Bro Bro is going to make it the whole trip.  Will he sleep the entire time?  Will he wail intolerably?  In an effort to control something, I tried to limit Natalie's liquid intake in the morning, in hopes that we would not have to stop at some random, filthy restroom or that she would have to "tinkle" while we were in one of those stretches of fifteen miles between rest stops.  Normally, fifteen miles would be nothing, but with two young children and the three hours ahead of us...well, think about the Gilligan's Island crew, they expected things to go better too.

It is never good to start off with worries because it inevitably creates a problem.  I left the house at 9:30 which was between my 9 and 10 planned time.  Good.  495 no traffic, Mass Pike, no traffic.  As I continued on the Pike, I realized it has actually been a long time since I have done this on my own.  Dan always takes 290 through Worcester, which I don't particularly care for, and as I was driving I started to question my surroundings.  West, yes I want to go west - not towards Boston.  Needless to say, anxiety got the better of me and I missed my exit for 84.  How does one miss an over sized green sign with a reflective 84 painted on it?  I am not really sure, but I did and as I entered Palmer, MA I knew something wasn't right.  We were forty miles in, twenty of which headed deeper west into MA than necessary, when Natalie innocently asked from the back seat, "How much longer?"

 

"Two and a half hours," I replied, silently cursing myself for not paying attention to clearly marked road signs.

"How many minutes is that?"

"190 minutes."

"190 minutes?  Oh.  I can handle that," she said and nonchalantly continued watching her DVD.

Deep breath.  If she can handle it, I suppose that I can too.