Wish Me Luck!

Tomorrow Noah, Sam and I are going to California for the rest of January. I'm really excited to see my family (even though being away from Ben that long really sucks). But I'm completely dreading the travel day tomorrow. I already have anxiety over it (literally - I've felt a little sick to my stomach the last couple of days!). It's just that traveling by yourself with two small children is no picnic: lugging suitcases and strollers and carseats and diaper bags and, oh yeah, the children; the treat that security has become (I love how common sense has gone completely out the window); sitting on a plane for close to 5 hours, trying to keep everyone quiet and entertained when they're completely exhausted (Benedryl doesn't work on Noah - trust me, I've tried); trying not to flash everyone when your baby needs to nurse; changing diapers in those teeny bathrooms. And that's all if everything goes well - it doesn't include the added bonuses of mean flight attendents, being thrown up on, being pee'd on (with no change of clothes), meltdowns, etc. - all situations I have been lucky enough to encounter. This should show you just how much I love my family that I'm willing to go through all of this. It should also be clear now why I go for so long at a time!

I don't pretend to be alone in any of this - I know it's all just par for the course when traveling with kids. And even though it's always exhausting, it's not always a complete disaster. For the most part, the flight attendents are nice and helpful and I've always encountered very nice fellow passengers. On my last flight I sat next to a woman who was so nice that she would hold Sam for me when I needed both hands to help Noah, or when I needed to take him to the bathroom. (I don't make a habit of leaving my baby in the care of strangers, but on a full airplane thousands of feet in the air it's not like they can go anywhere so I'm just grateful for the help).

I've also had some entertaining experiences, believe it or not. One flight when Noah was a baby I sat next to this woman who was SO excited to sit by a baby. So that was nice. She was a real piece of work though. If she hadn't loved my child so much she would have really annoyed me. Instead I just thought she was funny. There were many funny things about her, but I'll just share the best one. Almost immediately upon sitting down she started chatting away and then she said, very confidently, "Your husband is a broker, isn't he?" Now, keep in mind this is before the plane even took off so we had been acquainted for all of 6 minutes and in that 6 minutes I hadn't mentioned Ben once (no offense, Honey). I responded, "Um, no, he's not a broker." And, with genuine surprise, she said, "Oh, really? I for sure had him pegged as a broker." At this point I'm dumbfounded because I have absolutely no clue what she's basing any of her assumptions on. Then a minute of so later she pulls out her book. It was . . . The Broker by John Grisham!!! I can't even express how hard it was for me not to burst out laughing. I held it in for the next 5 hours and then my mom and I laughed so hard we cried.

Anyway, so wish me luck tomorrow!