Two Kids. One Road Trip: The Procrastinating Packer.

So, we're leaving on this road trip to Texas in the morning. As in, leaving at 3 in the morning, tomorrow morning. It's 9 p.m. right now and although my logic is telling me the right thing to do is go to bed... I am all, "this would be a great time to blog- the whole family is asleep!" I have never been known for my logic.

We've been planning this trip for a while and the husb is beyond excited. We're going to a huge car show in Austin called The Round Up, showing our car (as in his car). We'll be gone for 8 days. He's wanted to go for years and this is the year I finally said, "alright, what the heck!" I'm a totally cool wife like that. SO cool.

On Friday I woke up in panic mode saying things like, "we're not even prepared at ALL!!" and so my husband sat me down and went through his whole trip preparedness speech. It was good, I'm not gonna lie. He pulled out a bunch of AAA books and maps... he sure looked prepared. He was really taking this whole road trip thing seriously. All I had done was think about the amount of thrift shopping I was going to do. He said one thing over and over to me all weekend, "Kenna... all you need to focus on is getting you and the kids packed. I will take care of everything else."

And damn him, he did take care of everything else. With NO help from me, which does not look good for a woman who is normally totally and utterly IN CONTROL of all things our family. He booked hotels, got the car all tuned up (did I mention we're driving in a '59 Chevy?) and came up with fun ideas for the road trip. What is this guy trying to win a road trippers award or what?

And then there's me. Why can't I just get us packed? I came home from my day job today as a super exciting waitress and I had every intention of getting down to business and getting. us. packed. But then my daughter wanted her momma... so I mommed a while... then facebook called and I had gotten 3 new likes, (hello- celebrate!?) and then I realized a lot of the clothes I wanted to pack were actually in the dirty clothes, so I needed to do some laundry.

Shawn, my hubs was getting a little agitated I could tell. He kept saying things like, "You heading towards getting packed?" "You have the kids suitcases out?" and then finally, "Cormac and I are going to go on a bike ride to give you space so you can get packed." Well let me give you a tip Shawn, never leave a woman who hates to pack with only one kid and some perfectly functioning high speed internet. The things is- I work better when packing under pressure, it's the ONLY way I can do it. Like the morning of if I can get away with it. I mean, for this trip I had lots of ideas for the stuff I wanted to bring... and I figured they're in my head... and obviously I'm not leaving without clothes for me and the kids so it'll happen...eventually...

The next hour post bike ride went something like this...

Him: "How much have you gotten done Kenna?"
Me: "Why are you hovering, I'm going to get to it!"
Him: "So have you literally didn't pack anything?"
Me: "I mentally packed and that's practically packing and so now I feel much more prepared. I also pinned a bunch of cool stuff."
Him" (super agitated) "Kenna, PAAAAACK! I am trying to load the wagon tonight so we can just get up and go!" (He did have a point but my body was NOT cooperating)
Me: (singing of course) "Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin...I came to win..."
Him: "Why physically can you not just start gathering things?"
Me: (internally) "Hmmmm good question... the thought of packing is literally making me want to curl up on the couch and read a good book. And I don't read." (Out loud I made lots of cat noises, mocked everything he said and then I did some packing dances I thought might amp me up for packing. They didn't. Then I told him that pastors shouldn't say the word "damn" and he needs to, "take his tone down"- all things that really did not help motivate me like I thought they might.)

He left the room, which was a good idea for him. I checked facebook one more time and then suddenly I said, "Let's DO THIS Kenna!!" Next thing you know I'm on the phone with my mom and Cormac keeps coming in and saying, "We're waiting for your luggage- hurry up!!" every 2 minutes. Gosh dang this little parrot. I am talking on the phone with my MOM here, can you two show a little respect?!

Fast forward to the now. It's 10pm. I've been totally packed for an hour. It feels good. I knew it would. For some reason the thought of getting packed is really a daunting task. I think I'm scared of all of the things I KNOW I am going to forget and then kick myself for 2 days in to the trip. Why I can't slowly pack over the course of a few days is something I will never truly understand. But seriously, even if I tried to I could not do it. And why don't I have a packing list yet? This is not our first road trip. Or our first rodeo.

So here's the summary of me and packing, because I know you're dying for one: "Left brained people shouldn't do right brained tasks." Or at least that sounds about right and I'm totally acting like people say that about packing, or at all for that matter. If, however, that phrase does become big- remember where you heard it first.


                                                                   xo Road Trip or Die xo
                                                                               kenna

ps- I will be blogging from the road. And here are 2 things you should know pre-trip. #1- I need a root canal. #2- My 20 month old has an ear infection. Can't you hardly even wait? Did I mention we live in California?

Our last wagon road trip in 2010 to Portland, Oregon. We only had one kid and gosh that kid was easy in hindsight. We've done another road trip since with both kids- but that was in a new car. A totally different ballgame.

I am really looking forward to resting up... so that'll be a plus...

Hopefully we still like each other at the end of this trip. I mean, if I can get us packed back up it shouldn't be a problem, right?