Day 75 A Clip of Bravery

After traveling 14 hours from South Carolina to New York over the last 2 days (2 hours getting across the George Washington Bridge alone), I'm finally home. But during that looonnng ride and our arrival home, I had a few moments that stood out to me as noteworthy, but I'm going to focus on my daughter's flash of irrational thinking.

My daughter had an anxiety meltdown about 13.5 hours into the trip (for a refresher about her anxiety see Day 42 Scooting Past Anxiety). She had a broken toenail that was barely hanging on, but unfortunately, was attached to the part of the toe where you can get ingrown nails. Ouch. But what concerned her was whether or not there would be blood if I clipped the nail off (for the record, she's never seen bleed from me clipping her nails before!).

This discussion (well, I discussed, she freaked out) began at the 12.5 hour of the trip and continued off and on until the end. "You cut it... no, I'll do it myself... Ohhh, I can't do it, you do it! But it'll hurt! I'll do it." She then tried to trim the nail herself and then lost the courage to continue, became frustrated and tearful.

She kept saying I didn't understand her and no matter what I said, I couldn't say the right thing. Especially when I told her she was brave. She disagreed with me vehemently! "Please stop saying that! I'm not brave!!" I, was surprised that she really said that actually, but she obviously felt it to be true.

I began to show her how brave she was. "You don't think you're brave? But you wouldn't jump in the pool like you did if you weren't brave! And would someone who isn't brave pick up starfish like you did? Or try to catch tadpoles, and fireflies? I think you're really brave!" Her damp little cheeks began to plump up, and she smiled widely, her blue eyes sparkling. She calmed down enough to let us wait until home to take care of the nail. Actually, I should sneak into her room now and clip that nail while she's sleeping.

I'm off to take care of stray nails, but know that I smiled just as intensely as she was while listening to my examples of her bravery. At one point during the end of our trip, I looked back at her to see her watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, wearing headphones, clipping her nails with the cute little red safety clippers, and actually smiling. She was laughing at Dopey. It was a beautiful scene, she looked happy and unconcerned. Those are the moments that make me smile, the moments when they learn to let it go.

Day 74 There IS a Reason to Smile

Vacation is over and after spending too many hours in a car to get to a hotel, I've found it difficult to find much about which to smile! That sounds horrible, I know. I'm sure most people wouldn't be doing cartwheels to return home from sun, beach and pool, but to say I can't find anything worthy of happy thoughts is a tad ridiculous.

After packing up the car, or should I say, cramming everything from swim fins to fishing gear, seashells to driftwood, we headed out.

--By the way, the fins were great this week! They really kept the kids afloat while they practiced swimming and boy did those little urchins of mine have a blast in that pool! So, did I with our little aquatic triathlons.--

--Now, that fishing gear did me no good this time! I got nothing... Well, I did get some relaxation, peace and quiet.--

--And those shells are perfect! The kind you buy in stores everywhere else were lining the shore that was close to untouched by tourists. When we gave one to my Grandma, she lit up over it's uniqueness.--

--While I don't know where my husband found that cool piece of driftwood, I cannot wait to put it up on my wall!--

Anyway, we headed out for breakfast and a quick shopping trip to Ridemakerz and Build-A-Bear. Then it was time to hit the road.

--It was fun watching my son pick out his perfect vehicle. He knew just what he wanted and put it together with ease. Then he talked the ears off of a fellow who was also waiting for a Build-A-Bear shopper about the vehicle he created. And my daughter! She picked out the cutest little bunny and clothed her in such girly attire. So typical of my little princess. They loved it all!--

Well, we drove on and made our way to the halfway point and here I sit in the hotel bed, blogging about my unhappy day. Actually, just writing out my day has brought back a lot of memories of the trip. Memories that brought on a true smile. I suppose I need to stop selling my days short from now on and just let the smiles flow.

Day 66 Anniversary Travels Well

It is mine and my husband’s 11th wedding anniversary today! Coincidentally, we also spent 11 hours in our car, traveling  from New York to North Carolina today. Out of that 11 hours, I would say that between 9-10 of those hours were near perfect! Hey, they can’t all be perfect, at least not when a map is involved and a hurricane is dictating your unusual path. So we didn’t always see eye to eye on the route or where we would end up so that we would be out of Irene’s eye, but what matters is that we let it pass. We moved on and got over it. That’s what a 11 years of practice can bring you.

 George Washington Bridge

 Baltimore Harbor Tunnel--Bulb Exposure

Baltimore Harbor Tunnel--Bulb Exposure (again)

As far as our drive, we don’t usually spend our anniversary driving for hours on end. Clearly, mapping isn’t our niche and therefore, isn’t beneficial for our marriage. However, I still enjoyed my day. Smiles were had all day from being the shotgun sightseer to listening to the laughter of my mother playing with my daughter in the backseat... From enjoying my husband’s witty remarks beside me to driving to the beat of my own personal karaoke... From snickering at my son trapping a stink bug that stowed away in his sunroof to sipping on a cosmo after settling in at a hotel...  I loved my day! 

To celebrate my 11 years of wedded bliss, I’m sharing some of my favorite photos from our anniversaries past!

Top of the Rock-NYC (Completely blurry, but love it anyway)

The quiet shore that we walked along on our anniversary last year. Murrell's Inlet area.

A guest we found.

Smiles come easy on a day like this. 

Day 65 Move Over Irene

Well, we’re packing for our vacation and watching the weather all day! We just so happened to plan our beach vacation for the exact time that Hurricane Irene has decided to make a visit to the east coast for a bit of a vacation of her own. Now, I have waited for this vacation for an entire year! This yearly trip is what gets me through the bone-chilling winters up here. So I NEED this vacation! 

So we’ve booked the hotel for tomorrow night, packed the suitcases, gathered the toys, rounded up the fishing gear and squeezed it all in the car. We’ve thrown in a few umbrellas to fare against downpours (thank you IRENE). The kids will be separated, hooked up to iPods and DS’s by way of headphones for the sakes of our sanity. Overnight bags are ready so we don’t have to wrangle massive suitcases through the hotel lobby. We’ve mapped out a route that will keep us the furthest away from good ol’ vacation spoiling Irene. Looks like she’s going to miss the beach house for the most part so we just have to dodge her on the way in. We’re all set... at least the car is. 

Our house may be a different story. This Irene is headed for our home and I’m dearly hoping she’s barely crawling by then. Lord knows, the trees my area do NOT withstand any significant wind. Last winter, I returned home from Christmas vacation to fine three trees down in my front yard. We were fortunate that they didn’t land on the house! So tomorrow morning, I’ll be leaving my house in the hands of Irene. I’ll check in with the neighbors once she passes and hope with all my might everything is fine. I’m sure it will be. 

So, to sum it up, come hell or high water, I’m going on vacation. Though it looks like it will be mostly high water. Regardless, I’m going to bed tonight with a smile, knowing that we are headed to the beach. I won’t get there until Saturday afternoon, just in time for Irene’s sloppy seconds, and I’m going to be living it up when I do! So this weekend, if you’re south of the Mason-Dixon line and traveling on I-95. Keep a look out for me! I’ll be the one under the umbrella with a big smile plastered to my face.