Time for A Cross-Country Driving Vacation - Am I Crazy?!

I've got three days and seven hours left until my family and I head West. Driving to Reno, Nevada comes first. We think we'll get there after three full days of driving (not sure how many hours that'll be on the road but it's a total of 2,662 miles). I try to be kind of funny and cute and practical all at the same time when I remind my beloved husband that in the BEST case scenario we would be able to haul 887 miles a day, but what about my being 31 weeks pregnant at the start of this trip? Besides appreciating the scenery out my window, playing the requisite number of Alphabet Games, and listening to one of many already-selected books to read aloud to one another (all of which are part of helping to pass the time), I will regularly need to drink plenty of fluids, relieve the pressure on my bladder perhaps once every couple of hours, endure the strong likelihood of Braxton-Hicks contractions, and move around to stretch my legs as often as I can. So, what have I gotten myself into?

But I know the answer. A last trip with my family before the arrival of our baby in mid-to-late September. My girls deserve to have this trip go into their memory banks and my husband and I want this trip to go into our build-the-family record book. This is the summer of the Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince movie. This is the summer that all three daughters will be together at their Washington state camp for a full month thereby giving my husband and I our first-time-ever experience of being "childless" all just weeks before our babe arrives in September and we become a family of six. This is the summer when I've slept on top of the covers versus feeling cold or chilly every night. And this is the summer when I've realized I am thrilled (not anxious) about all the unknowns or mysteries that are coming to us. I like this life so much. I feel blessed and loved and safe.

The Universe provided us with the blessing of this sweet baby. I delight in its strong, active movements in utero and talk to our baby with such love and enthusiasm every day.

I still want to see everyone's life as being able to hold such promise. And, in particular, I still love working with people in my therapy practice who are seeking what it is that they want from the Universe.

Now I really know I'm not crazy to be taking this trip. I am lucky and excited and just might be able to write about that when I get back next month...

- ARC