Just pack and go, right?

   Recently, my husband and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary. To mark this special occasion we decided to take a trip, as we had planned years ago when we were first married. Years and years and years and years ago. Back then we had talked about taking a romantic, exotic, and adventurous trip down the Nile.

Our current status is typically in De-nial, so the trip was simplified.

   Being a little more conservative on our budget these days, we decided to settle on a less expensive getaway. We opted for Atlanta. Mostly because it would still be warm in the fall...and the airline tickets were cheap. But the important part of our trip was that it would be just the two of us going. No kids. No friends. No relatives. No pets. Just the two of us celebrating 8 wonderful years together. Um, I mean 25.

   The odd part was, I didn't want to go.

   Now don't get me wrong, I love to travel. And I love my husband, more than cheese and sliced bread and almost more than dark chocolate. My daughter can drive me nuts just like any other kid, but I love her, too. Yes, there are times I like to get away from my family and my friends as well as the bills and the chores and the endless to-do list. But if planning this trip had been left up to me, it might not have happened. Thankfully, my husband loves travel planning. So all I had to do was pack and go.

    Sorta. 

   Our anniversary is in September, which meant that our daughter was back in school. Before we could even book the flights (wait, what, we have to fly?) I had to make sure the trip was planned out during a week that we would not be missing any important dates at school. Due to job changes and a new work schedule for my husband, the date selection process became more complicated.

   Having passed this first hurdle, accounts needed to be double checked for any expenses that might come up while we were away, as well as making sure all the regular bills were paid. I know you can pay bills from anywhere these days thanks to technology. But seriously, who wants to pay bills while sipping margaritas on a beach?   

    Since my folks would be staying at our house to keep my daughter's schedule as smooth as possible in our absence, the house needed to be cleaned top to bottom. Not an easy task when you are finishing up several home improvement projects. Nor easy when you are a confirmed neat freak either. I managed to refrain from cleaning the ceilings. Mostly.

   This arrangement also meant advanced meal planning for easy meals. My folks were already taking a great deal of time out of their schedules (you would not believe how busy retired people are!) and doing a lot of work to care for our girl. I wanted things as simple as possible. I needed a meal plan, so I blew the dust off my cookbooks and started planning. Being out of practice, this took longer than I expected. After which I needed to go grocery shopping. Since updating our kitchen over the summer, food choices in the house had become interesting and unusual. The start of school had not made it any less unusual... just more interesting.

   Next I put together a daily planner. Since my daughter enjoys many activities, her schedule can vary from day to day. This way my folks could know when to expect my daughter to arrive home from school as well as any weekend activities that she would need to attend. Rides were coordinated for lessons when there were conflicts with my parent's schedules. I updated the morning and evening checklists for my daughter to help her remember things like taking her instrument to school and brushing her teeth.

   Then I did a mountain of laundry and packed.

   Packing was a lot harder for me since we would not have our camper with us. I had to remember to pack all the stuff I would not have normally thought about since it is usually in our travelling house. Thank heavens we went to a city where I could pick up all the stuff I forgot! 

    After all this prep, we were off to the airport (gulp). I am not nervous about flying, just getting through security. So we left early. Really, really, really early. Fortunately, security was a breeze. But no sooner was I through that hurdle, I found I missed my daughter. As our trip progressed, I kept thinking about all the stuff she would like. I missed waking her up in the morning and tucking her in at night. Okay, I didn't miss waking her up, but I did miss her hugs. In the end I survived.  We all did.

   Turned out this trip was an opportunity for growth for all of us. My daughter discovered she liked getting up early each morning (ugh) to take care of making her breakfast and getting her lunch together. Though she missed us while we were away, she felt more independent and took on responsibilities. She began doing things like homework, music practice and picking up her room without being reminded. (I have not ruled out the possibility of aliens taking over her body.)

   My husband and I rediscovered that we enjoy traveling together. Just the two of us. We are just as adventurous (though our muscles reminded us we are not as young as we used to be), continue to enjoy trying new things, and still crazy in love with each other. Or maybe just crazy...

   Despite my initial reluctance to leave my daughter behind and wander off with my hubby to explore and reconnect, I really enjoyed our time together as a couple.  It made all the planning and advance prep worth it.

But next time...we take the camper!