Priorities

I've been doing some thinking about our recent trip to Wisconsin. On one hand, I'm proud of myself.

I planned it, navigated it, and we stayed on schedule the whole time. We left when I planned to, we had a relatively stress-free (I mean, come on...I was travelling with 3 boys!) trip, and we arrived early enough for me to figure out where the heck my child was supposed to be at his camp. In fact, I even supplied the dinners for two out of our three dinners!

On the other hand, all of this says something not so nice about me.

Here's how our trips normally go. My husband packs his stuff (ahead of schedule), movies for the kids, and all kinds of entertainment (toys, video games) for Junior. My husband cracks ice for days for the cooler. He loads the cooler and then the car. My husband stresses out because he's not getting much help from anyone. While all this is going on, I pack my clothes and Junior's. I do my makeup. I bring my bag downstairs and get myself some breakfast. I make my way to the passenger seat and am annoyed because my husband is crabby, stressed out, and ruining the buzz of going somewhere.

So what's the difference? Why did my trip go so smoothly when trips with him are a stress-fest? I'll give you a hint: he's not the difference. I am.

Because he's super-organized and the kind of person who likes to get things taken care of ahead of time, it's very easy to let him. Not just let him take care of his stuff, but everything, and then I mosey down in time to get myself into the car. When it was me leaving and my schedule, then I was on top of things. Not fair.

There's no "i" in team, but there is one in "lazy bee-otch".

I hereby pledge to do a better job of sharing in the preparation and packing so that we both can enjoy the beginning of a trip. Granted, I'm not sure we have another trip coming this summer. But if we do...