2002-10-25 - 9:02 a.m.
I CAN ONLY TAKE ONE BABY...
In just a few minutes, we are leaving on a long car ride to go help my mother-in-law and sister-in-law pack to move. (Because I�m still not allowed to do much in the way of lifting, I�ll mainly supervise.) I don�t mind being elsewhere but the getting there is a pain. I hate long car rides.
It�s not that my children fight in the backseat. They really don�t fight all that much back there. For years we�ve selected a book on tape and long car rides have been a literary experience. The book has kept us focusing on something together rather than focusing on how much we bug each other.
It�s not so much that Day-Hay gets carsick. We seem to have that problem under control. Quite a few years back, we discovered an over-the-counter remedy that helped a lot: Bonine. It didn�t make her drowsy and it kept her from having an upset stomach or headache for at least a six to seven hour trip. (We long ago promised Day-Hay never to go farther than that in a day unless there was an emergency.)
It�s not even that Mr. Philately does all the driving. He�s a very good driver and I think of myself as a generally slightly-better-than-average driver. Besides, in recent years, he has consented to my driving occasionally to break up the trip. I don�t stiffen quite as badly when I get to drive a little.
No, it�s that it is basically boring and restrictive and often noisy. It�s that it disrupts my routine and gets in the way of what I like to do. I can�t read in a car. (Yes, I know that some people can. If I do, I�ll join Day-Hay in carsickness.) I can�t be on the computer. I can�t make phone calls or write letters. No, I just sit.....and sit....and sit....and sit.
I come by my hatred of long car trips honestly. My mother is a terrible traveler. When I was a child, I rarely heard my father say anything critical of my mother but one of the few times I remember occurred when we were on a long car trip. My mother had gone into the restroom at a gas station and my brother was whining about something. Suddenly, my dad turned furiously. �I can only take one baby on this trip,� he spat out. �And I have to take your mother.� We were stunned.
But today is a car ride day. If Mr. Philately is lucky, I will behave myself and he will not have to turn to a whining child and say, �I can only take one baby on this trip.....�
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