Car Trouble, Airports, and Kids

So, all I wanted for my birthday was to take my children, who have never seen snow up close and personal, to PA for a weekend of snowmen and snow angels. Stephen, who is always amazing, bought tickets for all of us to travel north this weekend and I couldn't have been happier!

Our departure morning started at 7:15 am with the girls awake and overly excited about the plane ride. They dressed and brushed their teeth without complaint and everything seemed to be running without a hitch....UNTIL....

I put the girls in the car 15 minutes too early. They were pulling toys and creating little messes all over our just cleaned house, so to minimize the disasters I decided I'd pack them up while waiting for Stephen to finish a movie download to his phone. Well, I turned on the Mama Mia soundtrack and we sang until Stephen joined us in the car (10 min. later than our planned time) and tried to start the car....DEAD BATTERY. Everything we tried failed and we were now only 2 hours from our flight leaving and it takes a solid hour to get to the airport and park.

That's when I start running from neighbor's houses in hopes that someone would have a battery jumper or cables....Finally, house number 5 had what we needed and we were on our way. We now had 1 hr. 45 min to our flight depature...we have to park the car, check bags, and go through security! ---Grant it, when I travel for work I always have timeline like this, but something about traveling with a 3 and 4 year old makes me nervous cutting it so close.

We arrive at the aiport and Stephen drops me off at the curb to check our luggage while he parks the car....we have 15 minutes before they board our plane!

Stephen and I rendevous at security and breeze through....even with potty stops before making it to our gate, we arrive just as they are boarding our section....YEAH.

Needless to say, the nervous energy I exhausted was for naught and all worked out perfectly.

I believe there is a lesson in this: The years since I've had kids seem to disappear before I realize they're slipping away....I'm always planning and running to keep up with the plan and once I've reached my destination I can't seem to remember how I got there. That old saying, 'Stop and smell the roses,' rings as an epiphany for me. I think this year I'm going to enjoy the journeys more and not just race to the destination. I'm sure Stephen will be happy to know this....hehe...I'll not elaborate here, but he really will ;-)