It's no surprise to me now when I do something that reminds me of my Mom. Every child has that moment in their adult life when they realize they've just morphed into the very person they swore when they were younger would never morph into. My moment has long since passed. But last night I was reminded again of how much my mother is in me. When preparing for a trip for example, my mother has a certain....technique if you will. Much of this technique involved packing the night before, including food and drinks. The house was cleaned as if it was a matter of life and death . The rest of the process involved waking up at a God awful hour at like saay 4 am to finish packing and load the car. But neither of my parents would ever wake me up that early...noo I would get woken up like 20 minutes before my parents wanted to leave. Giving my 5-17 yr old self no time to prepare for the long excursion ahead. And considering we usually went to TN to see my grandparents and that was a good 10 hours away, a girl needed ample time to get her things together. Because clearly I was never prepared.
Flashforward to now, a 2_ yr old mother of 1. I am notorious for saying I'll leave at a certain time, and then 2 hours later I'm leaving for real. Because again, I'm clearly never prepared. I wish I could blame it on Kenny and how long it takes him to get ready or for me to pack his things. No, it's usually me who's debating on whether or not to bring certain clothes or how many books do I think I can read while I'm away. So when I told my family in VA what time I was leaving to come visit for the Thanksgiving holiday I knew they were secretly thinking " ok she says she's leaving at 6:30...add 3 hours and that's what time she'll REALLY be leaving." I was determined to make this trip as easy as possible to start. And also prove to myself that I can be as prepared as the other members of my family are when it comes to traveling. After I got home from work I started my planning. I packed a snack bag worthy to feed at least 5 hungry people. I got Kenny and my clothes packed and clothes for the morning were laid out. Breakfast was made for me in the morning and all the dishes were done. House had been vacuumed, floors mopped and laundry was folded ( mostly). Kenny had a toy bag with a variety of things to hopefully keep him occupied. I included new things too so there would be a couple of " surprises" throughout the trip. I loaded all items into the car and was in bed exactly when I wanted to be which was 8:30. On.The.Dot. I was proud of myself, thinking I had clearly conquered the art of packing the night before. But the waking up early part still had to be done. But I was up at 4:50 am as if I had been doing it my whole life. And that's when it hit me..again.. for like the 100th time. I am my mother. As I pulled out of my driveway at 5:50 I knew she would be proud of me. I was clearly prepared this time around. What I was still not prepared for though. was 30 minutes into a 8 hour trip, my passenger calling out " Are we there yet?"
I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
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