Packing stinks

I hate packing. With a passion. I like to consider myself a laid back person, but I am starting to wonder if that is a lie I tell myself because the person that emerges when packing is required is just not someone I recognize. I readily admit that I am not an organized person, so if there is something that is going to overwhelm me, it is going to be packing for myself and my 3 little kids for 7 weeks in an RV. AN RV PEOPLE. The whole experience is just divorce inducing stress for me. You see, my husband is all happy la-la we are going on this awesome adventure and what on earth is wrong with you getting all stressed out?!? If you think about it, we are already on vacation! In the past when we would be leaving for the beach on a Saturday morning, he would be all excited on Friday because “vacation really already started”. For some reason between that 42 loads of laundry just to start packing and the having to literally get up and crawl into the back of the van 187 times on the way to the beach to retrieve a pacifier, goldfish, sippy cup or some stupid $8 trinket we let them buy at Cracker Barrel that they are only going to like for 5 more minutes, just doesn’t “feel” like vacation to me. Not to mention the constant worrying leading up to leaving as to whether you have everything you need. I imagine it being 2pm on a Tuesday and Luke is having an absolute fit and about to wake up his brother because I don’t have Mike the Knight AND the horse. I have Mike the Knight. And I have a horse. But I do not have THE Mike the Knight Horse. So yeah, it’s not vacation until we are there. (Please notice the basket full of diapers and wipes in the picture. The fact that I even have to pack these items is cause for enough stress!)

So this trip has been no exception. We have been packing for about 13 hours straight as I type this…although we didn’t really want to rip each other’s heads off until hour 11, so I see that as an improvement.

The reality is there is going to be a big lesson for me on this trip because we are never going to “be there”. The whole vacation is “getting there”. We will stop, set up, unpack a little and do it all again every few days. So maybe this is just what I need. A little personal “packing camp”. (And wine. Lots and lots of wine.)

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