Riding

With school starting back soon, I was thinking about when I first started having to drive Lily and Sam from Monroe to Ballantyne for school. There’s been a couple of different routes I’ve taken over the years but, no matter how you slice it, it’s somewhere between 90 and 120 minutes, round trip.

At first, I hated it.

I mean really, really, really, freakin’ hated.

I’d make that drive every Wednesday and Thursday and then every other Friday. And every Tuesday and Wednesday night, and then every other Thursday night, I’d start dreading it.

I hated it so much that, after a couple of times the first year, I hired someone to drive for me.

But the kids hated that. They didn't want to ride in the truck with a driver, they wanted to ride in the truck with me.

So the next year I did it myself, but I still hated it. It always felt like an interruption or like I had something more important to do than drive kids around.

And I did the next year too, but I still hated it. Sitting in all that traffic, twiddling my thumbs, and thinking about work that I could be getting done if I wasn’t stuck in the car.

Next year - same thing.

One day though, I had an epiphany.

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

My kids didn’t want to just ride in the truck with me. They wanted to spend time with me. From that day on, everything changed.

Instead of trying to figure out just how fast I could make the trip, I relaxed about it and let it take however long it took. We started playing games, singing songs, talking and just having a good time.

Instantly it went from being a chore to something that, at the least, wasn’t so bad. And at its best, on a good day, we have a really good time.

Funny how your perspective can change your experience.

Last year we started going to Amelie’s every Thursday morning before school. Leave the house at 6:20, arrive at 7:00, usually the first customers through the door. Take our time eating breakfast, drop the kids at 7:45, and I get to the office by 8:30.

If I have to make a two-hour drive to get the kids to school, I reckon this is a pretty perfect way to do it.