Riding in cars with boys

Sitting in the backseat of this car I’ve learned/relearned something important about myself.

Patience is not only NOT one of my virtues...it’s not something I can even pretend at for very long.

Today we’re heading out to my cousins for the big trip this weekend. We’re going to pack up her apartment today and then tomorrow we head down to Kentucky where we will unload in record time and then drive straight back to Michigan. I’ve been trying to come up with a good title for this trip and so far all I’ve got is “BOY WE WILL BE TIRED IN THREE DAYS!” That’s not really creative but maybe I can play around with the theme… ‘Exhaustion 2010’? Or maybe just go with the non-creative cliché “Kentucky or Bust (but hopefully not bust since this is a rental and that would be hard to explain to the insurance company)!”

Anyway, my brothers and I are driving up today and, of course, my brother is driving. Since I intend for them to do most of the packing, I’m fine hanging out in the backseat. Or at least I was fine until my brother started taking us on a back road tour of Michigan. I am not good at directions and I knew I was the only one who knew where my cousin lived, I was more than a little nervous about not taking the highway. But I tried to be patient. I tried to trust my brother’s driving and directional skills. I tried to find things to keep my occupied in the back seat but it didn’t last long. Like a kindergartener on a vacation I piped up from the backseat: “are we at the highway yet?”

Even now, I’m cringing a bit. My brother, bless his soul, took it in stride. Despite my whining he explained that the highway was eventually coming up and that he knew where he was going and that we would get to Grand Rapids just fine.

I texted my little sister to let her know that I should qualify for sainthood after getting through that trip without blowing a fuse. But maybe it’s my brother who should be getting the real props today.