Wanderlust

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before... when we left for Portland a coupl'a weeks ago- straight from class- Jack bounded out of school, skipping and giggling and chanting,"road triiiiiiiip!!! portlaaaaaaaand! ROAAAADD TRIIIIIIIIIPPPP!!" He sat up front and chatted about our surroundings in a much more inspired way than usual, helped find a delicious Indian restaurant for dinner, and navigated any turn offs or side trips (he was bestowed the honor of map keeper at a very young age, and takes great pride in the responsibility). Today, we spent a good while perusing highlights for our upcoming road trip to Texas- swimming holes, tiny towns, and endless choices of cabins- and I realized at one point that we were both sitting on the edge of our seat, smiling the biggest stupidest grins, and just simply giddy over the possibilities for adventure. It is important to note that Jack is cool as a cucumber- a very joyful child, but rarely acting in any excited way. Road trips are one of the few things that bring this side out of him.

He had the fate of being born into a family with some serious wanderlust- we hauled him up to Tahoe when a few weeks old, dipped him in the ocean in Carmel at 3 months, camped halfway across the country and back when he was barely one year old, let him go on numerous "Grammy" vacations away from us for weeks at a time as early as four years old, and we haven't stopped since. No one could have ever guessed how well he would take to it (from the start, a very easy traveler)- and boy were we ever warned about how crazy we were and how dumb of an idea all those trips were with a baby, a toddler, and so on... As we sat together today all a'flutter, I was overcome with joy to see this part of myself in my son. What a love to share! I'm so glad I went with my heart and didn't stop short of early travels out of fear of the unknown, fear that it might be difficult. Day tripping and longer summer road trips were a favorite part of my own childhood- many Sunday drives sparked by the thought,"I wonder what we'll see today?" Passing it down, with pride.