i can just see the expressions on everyone's faces now. they first look in shock and then in horror at the thought of sharing a combined space with all of the children for an extended period of time. people who have never believed in god before will suddenly find themselves whispering repeated prayers that we be seated as far from them as possible. we are the communicable disease of the travel world.
i get it. i've traveled before. i've even whispered those same prayers on those rare moments when i'm without my children. i can understand the sheer panic that the sight of so many children on a plane can ignite. i am with you.
i am seriously stressing in anticipation. i don't want to be "that" family. i have worked, planned, and strategized for weeks in preparation for this outing. i've purchased new books, charged every electronic device possible, prepared snacks, packed changes of clothes, books, crayons, everything i can possibly think of to make the journey across the country as pain free as possible.
i know it's easy to look at the traveling families and annoyingly wish they hadn't bothered your travel bliss. you have to trust me on this one, no matter how much you may want to be elsewhere when you are seated next to my family, i will have that desire trumped by ten fold. the last thing i want to do as i'm beginning a family vacation is endure a full day in cramped quarters with my irritable children. i'm dreading the looks of exasperation, the sighs of discontentment and the comments of annoyance from my children and fellow passengers alike. it promises to be a very long day.
so, i am officially retracting my previous statement. don't change your tickets. lend a hand. if it's not the "nellie" clan you befriend, find another poor family in need. smile and, if nothing else, wish them luck. it certainly can't make your plane ride any worse...and it just might go a long way to make someone else's plane ride just a little bit better.
Last summer we drove to Texas and back from Virginia.
ReplyDeleteTrapped in that memory , or in a plane with my family, will be how I am punished in hell.
you are a supermom...just for attempting that trip. yes...i can well imagine hell looking something like that.
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