Packed and Ready to Go

When I was a kid, my family traveled often, taking long car trips all over North America. My brother, my sister and I would pile into my parents’ 1977 Pontiac station wagon and we’d head off. The destination varied. Sometimes it was a national park, or an amusement park, or a random tourist trap or, in one case, a six week expedition across this great land and into Mexico. My parents never made reservations anywhere so there was always the possibility that the destination would change. And there was always – always – a tent and camping equipment in the back for whenever nature inspired us. (Well, really for whenever hotel prices inspired my parents not to stay in a hotel.)

My favorite vacations were the surprisingly frequent trips to nowhere in particular. My parents would give notice – sometimes hardly a day – that we would be going on vacation. Probably for about a week, maybe more. Probably south. Probably to a beach. Maybe camping. Pack accordingly.

When I think back now to the good times we had on those trips, I can hardly remember the actual cities and landmarks we visited. Mostly I remember the absurd ways my siblings and I entertained ourselves — ok, usually two of us were entertained and the third was crying — and the people we met, many of whom had never talked to New Yorkers before and were endlessly amused by our accents.

I didn’t realize these spur of the moment trips were not common occurrences for other families at the time. (Although as my siblings got older and I started inviting friends along, I did notice it was hard to convince their parents that this was not some felonious flee to Mexico.) But now I’m impressed with my parents’ throw-caution-to-the-wind approach. I like to think I’ve inherited it a bit myself, which brings me to this blog…

I’ve decided to pack up some of my ridiculously limited free time and pile my words onto this blog. I’m not sure where we’re going. Probably motherhood. Probably law. Probably some discussion of books and stuff I like. Maybe politics. Pack accordingly.

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