Me: Ummm.....are we crazy for even contemplating this?
Husband: Sure, but I think it'll be great.
Me: Are we ready, though? I mean, this is huge. Like, really huge.
Husband: Babe, it's a 12 hour drive to Virginia Beach. You were in labour for double that time. I think we can handle it.
Me: Hmph. At least we didn't have to keep a toddler happy during my labour.....
Well, it was settled: The Sharps were headed, baby and all, to Virginia Beach. Sure, the weather wouldn't be blazing hot. Sure, we were driving the longest we have ever driven as a family. Sure, this may well be the silliest mistake we have ever made, but dammit, we were going to give it a try anyway. With two other families joining us on the open road, the idea of a road trip actually became pretty exciting. This was not going to be the 24 hour whirlwind to Newfoundland that I made oh so many times as a child. Those days, I would fall asleep around the Kingston mark, wake to cursing throughout the Quebec mark, and then sleep again until the Sydney, Nova Scotia mark, where we would board an 8 hour ferry. My father, in his zest to get "home," forgot that road trips were supposed to be fun, or at least with the semi-delusional beginnings of fun. My mother, bless her, did her best to keep the three of us occupied and quiet enough to keep my father from idly threatening to, "pull this car over." Ya right, like he would "lose time" doing that. Once getting to Newfoundland, my father would immediately relax, boast about his driving time, and then look questioningly at his frazzled wife and three exhausted children like, "What? That wasn't fun?" Nope, this was going to be different, and different it was. And baby was surprisingly comfortable and happy. (Though not sleepy. At all.) The the drive down was seemingly, dare I say, easy? And we decided to do it in two stretches so we were able to stop early the first day, have dinner, watch TV, and wake up at a decent hour the next day for a shorter stretch. Could this be the beginnings of a yearly family tradition? Could we continue the drives without a portable DVD player? Could we, would we, attempt a longer drive? Maybe, just maybe.....
