Someday My Memory Will Fail Me…Thank God
Posted
June 3, 2008 at
11:53 pm by
Kadi
Our family just returned from a 53.5 hour long family vacation. We stayed at my in laws’ house at the river. Why was it only 53.5 hours long? Well, it’s a long story so I’ll paraphrase. Day one was great. We swam, barbequed and played games with the kids. Life was good. Day two was less than great. In fact, it was down right miserable. The kids grew tired of the heat, the water, their raw little piggies and being in a strange house. They reacted to this discomfort by fighting and whining. After threatening them with severe consequences trying to resolve their obvious displeasure with the situation, we decided to cut the trip short and head home.
Family vacations are not for the faint of heart, nor the blessed of quivers. My mother in law called, this morning, to inquire about our early departure from their house. I explained the difficulties of our vacation, as she laughed in understanding. She then recounted the three times in forty five years, that her own large family took vacations. She was always pregnant. She always had a baby. They never had money. Taking thirteen kids on a road trip sounds down right hellish to me. I cannot imagine living that nightmare. I listened intently, as she described their trip to Oregon. The boys decided to play, “never leave your ribs open.” When that got boring, they switched to “never leave your jaw open.” She recalled how terribly long the journey in the van was. I’m sure she wished for ear plugs and a valium at times. My mother in law is a very patient and self sacrificing woman. Those trips must have been purely labors of love. One time, she even put off telling her husband that she was pregnant again, just so that he would enjoy the trip. Did I say she was patient and self sacrificing? I take that back, she’s a freakin’ saint.
I feel almost silly to complain to her, about my own stress and lack of patience to endure seven kids’ whining. Yet, she never makes me feel silly. She echoes my sentiments of wanting to give our kids great memories of family vacations, then ending up wanting to pull every last hair out of my head by the time we get back home. I know that she loves her children and enjoys motherhood, for the most part. It makes me fully appreciate her honesty about the fact that motherhood is not always roses and family vacations are far from perfect. She assures me that, someday, I will look back and laugh at our misadventures in the 15 passenger van. I asked her why and she she said that I’d start to forget some of the not so great stuff. “For now,” she advised, “plan a trip with just you and your husband and I’ll help watch the kids.” I asked her if she ever left the kids for a romantic weekend. “Yes,” she chuckled, “but that’s another story…”
Tags: car-rides, Family, memories, road-trips, stories, vacations |
5 Responses to “Someday My Memory Will Fail Me…Thank God”
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1. Grandma frm Ks. said:
June 4, 2008 @ 11:17 am
Kadi, I had 2 great women in my life, (saints) my mother,and my mother-in-law. Your MIL sounds just like mine, Take her advice, and as I said before, one day you will forget some of the not so good and pleasant vacations, or just joke about them, I guarantee you the kids will laugh about it all and probably laugh at you and dear hubby, for some of your re-actions to thier little schemes, (been there , going thru that even today) You will hear stories from the little burgers that will make you go ” when the hell did you do that?” If possible take alone time (you and hubby) you my friend deserve it, One more thing, you will some day cherish the memories that are causing you to pull your hair out now, I am just an ole’ granny who lives on memories of little ones running wild, but it keeps me going, Last but certainly not least, Cherish your mother-in law, I have met so many women who only dream of MIL’s like ours,I was #1 in my MIL eyes, and I loved her dearly, The more I read your stories , the more you sound like a SAINT,
2. Kadi said:
June 4, 2008 @ 1:08 pm
Your insight is priceless. I will try to ignore my anxiety and stress enough to enjoy them while they are little. It is just a tad hard to smile about, when I am scrubbing mudding footprints off the floor all day
Thanks for the nice compliment and words of wisdom! They have not fallen on deaf ears.
3. Grandma frm Ks. said:
June 5, 2008 @ 2:26 pm
Sure Kadi, you can call me grandma, granny, or grams. with 14 grang children I’ve been called alot of names (except Nanny, or Nana) any way I am so surprized you have’nt gotten more comments by now, It’s a great topic, Okay typers and writers, let the keys on your board start singing.
4. Kadi said:
June 5, 2008 @ 2:37 pm
I think that many people read my posts and fail to realize that most of my whining and negativism is in jest. I blog about the humorous and sometimes crappy aspects of having a big family. Sometimes, I am dramatic. Sometimes, sarcastic. People have this pre-conceieved notion that mothers of large families are docile, Betty Crocker types who love every aspect of having a large brood. When they realize that I do not fit that prototype, they are disappointed, disgusted or disapproving of my writing. They fail to see that I can write about the not so great parts of motherhood, but also love my role and my family to death. So, I think that many do not respond because they do not appreciate my style of writing. I am glad that you are able to recognize that I am a multi faceted mother!
5. Jessica said:
June 5, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
I want to hear the other story! Do tell!
Trips to Target end with my kids fighting, I can’t imagine what a road trip would do to them. Prescott recently took Holden on a road trip for a football camp. The little guy and I were going to tag along until we thought about and said, “Nah,” simultaneously.
In a way, we both got our little vacations, with just one kid. Ahhhh. One kid. That’s nice.