Having Everyone Together Again – If Only For A Short Time.
Here is the good news! We got my son back in time for Thanksgiving Day! He tested negative for Covid, did his 12 day quarantine at his Dad’s, and was able to come back for Thanksgiving. It did cut into our vacation provision for that week, but – truthfully – where were we going to go anyway? So, whatever!
We did go on one quick trip this year, for two reasons:
- Our children are accustomed to travelling with us. My two biological children have been travelling all their lives, with their first trips to either New York or Europe within the first three-four months of their lives. My Ex-husband and I raised them multinationally, multiculturally, and multilingually. James’ children had never really been anywhere (their mother prefers travelling without them and their father didn’t emphasize the importance of it either) until we met, but have since come to expect it from us. We love Mark Twain’s famous quote: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” If I was crafty in any way, shape, or form, I’d embroider it somewhere, calligraphy and frame it, etc. But alas, I have two left hands and nobody would ever consider me an artsy-crafty kind of mom.
- James was getting stir-crazy. Actually, the more the kids were home-bound, the more he wanted to go somewhere. Or he, like his children, has come to expect us to travel together in the past almost four years. I am still not sure which was the cause, but I found myself frantically trying to come up with a Covid-safe way to travel somewhere Covid-safe by the end of the summer. I know, I know, there’s nothing like cutting it close!
Obviously, flying anywhere was out of the question. Packing up the family car and driving cross-country wasn’t a thrilling idea either. Where would we stop and eat or go to the restroom, in a socially-distanced manner?
So, we decided to rent an RV and drove almost 20 hours for a hiking trip. This way, we didn’t need to stop anywhere, could use the bathroom on board that I obviously disinfected to the hilts and sleep in the same beds with our own linens. It seemed like the most perfect idea ever!
Weeeelllll, let me tell you… it was nice to be able to get away. The mountains were gorgeous and it was – overall – an interesting experience. The state we visited has a very low Covid rate and I felt like my family was safer there than in our home state.
Would I do it again? A 20-hour RV trip with four kids? Having six people confined to a small space like this for days on end? Uh-non merci! I like trying to new things but I’m also happy to admit when I made a mistake and something didn’t work out quite as planned. I don’t regret this trip at all, but you won’t see our family in an RV again anytime soon.
Let’s hope this pandemic is over by next year – I doubt I’ll be able to keep everyone at home much longer and I will not buy or rent an RV 🙂
Ashley@Shakenstirredandblended
Hi, I'm Ashley and I am a freelance writer and editor for one local and one national publication. In my spare time, I teach foreign languages and manage two households. Oh, and raise four children. It's a crazy life that I chose and I love every second of it :o)