It has been nearly a year since my last trip East with the kids.
When we first moved across the country, one of my greatest concerns would be that
we would not be able to travel "home" enough to continue the precious
relationships we were leaving behind. Not the least of which included my parents, my siblings,
their spouses. In the first 4 1/2 years away, no problems. We flew back and forth several times a year, spending
a lot of time having the kids bond with their grandparents and aunts and uncles. We went to weddings, funerals,
important birthday parties, wedding dress shopping, holidays, the birth of babies, surgeries. The 5 hour trip from LA to Philadelphia did not deter us in the least from being as involved as we could in our other life.
Now that almost a year has gone by without a trip, I start to feel the pangs of longing for Philadelphia in autumn.
The kids have a week out of school in October and this has been a natural time to travel most other years.
This year, this time, for the first time in my life... I had to acknowledge I was just not up to it. The thought of the airport, the crowds, the long flight, the baggage - too daunting. My husband was cheerful and supportive (despite his job being quite closely connected to the housing market) but I just cannot face the prospect of
airline travel. Granted, I am pushing five months pregnant, with two other children to drag through security; but I don't think that would have mattered to me earlier.
Well, I know it didn't. I flew with my daughter at one month, at three months, at four months, at eleven months and on and on, making my son drag his own luggage through the airport all those times. "NO, you cannot ride on the stroller (after walking a mile lugging his bag) you have to carry your bag!"
And so approaches the longest amount of time that has ever gone between my trips to the East.
Hopefully I will get my energy back - we all miss it.
9.26.2008
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