My List of Worries

In a little over a week, I will reattempt The Trip That Wasn’t. If you’re new to these parts (or just don’t know what I’m talking about), you can read about it here. Or I can give you the nutshell version.

Back in March, Annelise and I were going to travel with my sister Allison to visit our sister Jen in Washington state. Mere hours before our scheduled departure, two of my kids got a stomach bug and I had to cancel out. Allison made the trip alone and I thanked God that my husband (who surprised me with the plane ticket for Christmas) had the foresight to purchase travel insurance. Once things settled down and everyone was healthy again, I re-booked my flights for the end of June, with one major difference: This time it’ll be Annelise and I… all alone. I won’t have the comforting backup of my sister as I travel from one coast to the other with a 13 month old.

Now I know some of you moms are reading this, rolling your eyes, and remembering the time you flew solo, cross-country with your three children, all under the age of 3. I have two things to say to you. 1) You’re a little bit of crazy and amazing all rolled into one. And 2) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment at the end of this blog post telling me what made your trip wonderful and what made your trip terrible. I need all the pointers I can get!

As you may have figured out, I’m not very adventurous. I love the idea of adventure, but actually carrying it out is a bit stress inducing. And so as the date of our departure draws closer and closer, my list of worries grows longer and longer.

Here they are in no particular order:

  • Annelise will scream. All 12 plus hours that we’re traveling. If you haven’t heard her scream before, let me describe it to you. Imagine the pitch that is just out of our range; you know, the ones that only dogs can hear. Drop it down one degree and there you have it. Her scream physically hurts your ears. It breaks glass. It sends grown men running for cover. I’m pretty sure we’d be put on the No Fly List.
  • One of our flights will be delayed and/or we will have to switch terminals during a layover, thus causing us to miss a connecting flight.  When I made my reservation I thought I was being really smart. We have four flights out there, which sounds a little ridiculous, butt my reasoning was this: four flights means shorter flights, so less time for Annelise to get antsy. Four flights also means three layovers which will give her a chance to crawl around and get some energy out in between. None of the layovers are terribly long, so I figured that would be good as well. Just enough time to jump out, run around, and hop on the next plane. But now I’ve been reminded by several people that sometimes you have to switch terminals between flights. One of my layovers is only half an hour. What if we’re delayed and then have to run across a terminal, hop on a bus, and run through another terminal to get to our gate? There’s NO WAY we would make it in time. Plus, do you have to go through security again when you change terminals? That always takes forever, especially with a baby in tow!
  • Annelise’s ears will hurt. I know my ears always bother me when I fly, so I hope that isn’t the case for her.
  • We’ll sit next to a crotchety old man. Or woman. Or young man. Or young woman. This fear is just that we’ll sit near someone who doesn’t like kids. That would make for a very long flight. (Did you hear a few months back about that guy who slapped a crying baby on a flight?? Be warned, fellow travelers, if you slap my baby, you will regret it!)
  • We will have accidents that use up all of the extra clothes I pack in our carry-on. It could be a spilled drink, a poopy blowout, or a nasty case of throw-up, but if we use all of our clothing reserves and have another accident, what are we supposed to do?? Wear dirty, stinky clothes the rest of the trip? I suppose we would have to. On a related note, how do you change a diaper on a plane? Is there a changing station in the bathroom? I’m hoping I won’t need to, but let’s face it, babies don’t poop (or not poop) on command.
So that’s what’s floating around in my head right now. The Bible says over and over again that we are not supposed to worry or be afraid. As a woman and a mom, I think that’s the hardest commandment to keep! But now that I’ve shared my worries with you, you can pray very specifically for both me and Annelise as we travel! And throw one in for Eric and the boys as well. I know they’ll be fine, but I’ve never been away from them longer than two nights.
From here on out, I am going to try very hard to stop worrying and start looking at this as the adventure that it is. Yes, our day of travel may have stressful moments. But it’s just one day. Yes, I may have a baby who screams at times. But I probably will not see any of the people on the plane ever again and they’ll get over it. Yes, I may miss a flight. But apparently there’s more than one flight from airport to airport and I can always get on another one. It won’t be ideal, but I also won’t be stuck in Kansas City for the rest of my life. Yes, we may have to wear disgusting clothes for part of our trip, but I can always buy an ugly souvenir tee shirt at a duty-free airport shop to tide us over until we get to my sister’s house. And let’s not forget the whole reason for our trip. We get to spend a week with my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew. Seeing them for the first time in a year will be well worth any trouble along the way! Besides, the more problems I run into, the more entertaining my next blog post will be. So stay tuned!!

 

Lauren Cormier

About Lauren Cormier

Lauren is a 30-something stay at home mom who doesn't have it all together and she's pretty sure you don't either. She hopes that by sharing her real life (not the glossy made-up version) she can encourage you to drop the act and get real. Lauren lives in Hermon with her husband and their three children. She also blogs at www.ohhonestly.net