Get to packing

Get ready, get set, OK vacation! So I should be washing all the clothes and packing the suitcases, but I'm not. I am soaking up the silence. Nikki used to say "SHHHHHHH, hear that?" I would tell her I don't hear anything, she'd say "Exactly". Quiet is a comodity that is scarce when you get married and it's a far away dream once you become a mom. I love all the noise-Sesame St on the TV, washing machine downstairs, dishwasher upstairs, toys flying across the room and banging into the walls, and "Mama" screamed about a thousand times a day. I love all of it. I also really like it when it's quiet. Just the noise from the cars passing outside.

The minute Brad walks in the house the TV must be turned on and up loud. He likes it, I like him so I live with it. After I've spent a weekend with him I am so ready for him to go back to work so I can clearly hear all the voices in my head. I like it when Turner and I first get up and it is silent. No cars outside because the rest of the world is still sleep at 5 am. No TV, just me and my boy and two bowls of oatmeal. This is better than meditaion.

But the clothes need to be washed and packed, we're going on vacation tomorrow. We'll be gone 5 days. This is the longest Brad and I have ever been on "vacation". We come home a couple times a year for a week or two but it's not really vacation, it's home. I am really looking forward to this trip. Yellowstone is suppsoed to be gorgeous. Plenty of photo opportunities for me. So I'll pack in a minute. Gonna listen to the breeze for a little while longer.

When I do pack, I will pack more crap than we will ever need. This is the thing to do when you have a 2 yr old. An extra outfit for everyday-check, toys-check, snaks of every description-check, absolute necesities(Bear and Elmo)-check, diapers, pull-ups and extra underwear-check, everything Brad will surely forget-check, all my stuff except a few really needed items-check. It's mom and husband duty to pack for all of their needs and in the process forget about most of mine.

I think this is why women become so much nicer to each other once they become moms. I did. Now when I see a mom with a screaming baby on a plane I don't roll my eyes or wish the kid would shut up. Now I offer some of Turner's toys and say to her-Hey it happens to all of us, no big deal. Being a mom means taking care of everyone's everything first, and then if there is a spare minute squeezing in some time for your stuff too. So now I realize this is probably how all the other women, moms and wives feel. This is how it's supposed to be. It's our job.