Long Roads

Back when my kids were born, and when Hank was born too,  our friend Janine gave both Erin and I a card and I’ll always remember what it said inside.

Sleep is for pussies.

I’m thinking that today, as Joe and I hurtle along Hwy 400, headed in the general direction of North Bay and our youngest.  We’re used to this trip now, and though it’s about 10 hours on the road, we’ve almost grown accustomed to leaving in the morning- driving, having a visit and then heading back home. We share the driving, so there’s usually a little knitting time in it for me, and that makes it easy to take.

This time though, this time it’s going to be a total pig.  We got up this morning, I considered by to-do list, and then tossed back three cups of coffee just to make it feel like any of it was even approachable.  I did my email, worked on Sock Summit email, did a few more Sock Summit things, Joe and I installed a hose, bought toilet paper… and then I packed and put my suitcase by the door, and then we got in the car and started driving. I did the first leg so he could do enough work that he doesn’t have to fire himself, and now we’ve switched so I can do the same.

(Note: For all Torontonians who make the drive to the Muskokas regularly, you will  be delighted to know that some time ago Joe and I passed "Dock in a Box" and yes.  We made the joke and sang the song. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m not going to spell it out for you.  Do yoursef a favour and google "box and Justin Timberlake" and then passing this joint will crack you up too.)

We’ll see our girl, we’ll have dinner, and then we’ll turn around and come back, arriving home at about 1:00am – and then I will… and I can’t even tell you how worried I am about this as a plan… I will, at least theoretically, get up at 4:30 to be at the airport by 5:30 so that I can catch a flight to Portland that seemed like it was at a totally reasonable time until Air Canada went on strike and sent me an email saying I should go to the Airport early because there might be "delays."
(Also, I’m flying carry-on, because of a shortage of people to tag my bag.)

Why, you may ask, would I still drive up north today if I knew I had to get up pre-dawn?  Well – because a mother has needs, and I can deal with my kids growing up and being away from me some of the time, but not without a minimum amount of contact.  It turns out that if I go too long without seeing my girls I become pretty much a Destroyer of Worlds, and if I don’t see Sam now I won’t see her for at least a week and it’s already been a while and.  Well.  We are in the car, and tonight I’ll get just enough sleep to make it possible to stand up at 4:30 and power through, and it’s a good thing that I’ve always sort of thought that Janine was right and that sleep is for pussies.  I can handle it.  Me and my best friend Mr. Coffee are going to nail it.

In the meantime, I managed to get myself feeling a little guilty about my June socks, so I’m going to give them two days of my time and see what happens.  The car ride today, the flight tomorrow, we’ll see what becomes of them.
Assuming I survive, I might even have a finished sock tomorrow.