Family Travels

Traveling puts my husband in a full, content mood. Being in a different environment, away from the normal routine gives him a peace that allows him to fully refresh from reality. For me, the idea of managing family chaos while we’re all strapped in the van for several hours completely overwhelms me. I am such a planner and whenever you travel anywhere with young kiddos, there is no telling what will go down.

Did I bring enough snacks?
Did I pack enough diapers?
Where is my son’s favorite lovey?
Oh, my goodness I forgot my shower cap!

Although I know my husband loves getting away, I know driving can quickly become overwhelming with our bunch in the car. And then there are the numerous days away from home that I, somehow, function with little to no sleep. I kid you not, my kids are up close to midnight simply because they are not in their bed and are away from home and then wake up at the crack of dawn every morning

Whyyyy kids?

I find traveling exhausting.

But we do it. And I’m so very glad we do!

We do it because we love our family.

I am one who just hates goodbyes. I blame my Grandpa Nichols who would plan a trip to see family and stress about forcing himself to say goodbye to someone he loves. That is me! When my husband and I lived in Seattle, WA and would purchase tickets to fly to visit my parents, instead of focusing on my excitement, I’d cry thinking of the dreadful moment of saying goodbye. Now that we are within a reasonable driving distance and are able to see family much more frequently, I handle goodbyes a tad bit better, but still not my thing.

The idea of living close to family sounds wonderful, but it has not been a part of God’s plan for my husband and I. God opened doors immediately when my husband graduated from college and we decided to take a chance and move across the country. 5 years later, God opened another door that would place us in the middle of our families and make it much easier for our kids to be a big part of their grandparent’s, aunt’s and uncle’s lives and now, we are in the lovely St. Louis Missouri area.

As much as I want to live closer, I have learned to be grateful that we don’t. Yes, I said grateful. Don’t get me wrong, if we could have my parents or in-laws nearby I’d be pretty darn pumped, but I am so grateful for the relationships I have with my family because of the gift of distance.

Distance has forced us to make the best of the moments we have with one another.

If my mom was someone I saw at church every week, we wouldn’t be embracing our Target shopping trips, family meals, and her entire role as nana wouldn’t be near the same to my children. Nana is someone we long to see. Someone who leaves treats on our bed every time we visit. Someone who never visits us empty handed. My mom, along with my dad and in-laws and the rest of our family, are all people that fill my children with joy!

Again, I sure wouldn’t complain if we were closer to family at some point, but our current dynamic has equipped us all to embrace the precious moments to the full.

So although traveling takes a lot of extra work, every single fussy exhausting second is worth it when we can all be together.

Travel. Don’t break the bank, but choose to make the moments count. Work hard to embrace the loud and crazy trips to create memories of a lifetime.

I guarantee you won’t regret it.