Are We There Yet?
The ride to Ocala was challenging, to say the least. Shaun followed me in our other car, which means I was on my own as far as keeping the kids fed and happy while driving. When we sat in the drive-thru at McDonald's, Evan kept yelling- yes YELLING- at me to "drive, mommy, DRIVE!" After so many times of nicely telling him we had to wait our turn and he couldn't talk to me like that, I finally snapped. Whipping my head around with a deadly, level gaze I said, "Evan, daddy's in front of us! Do you want me to hit daddy?" (No, he didn't.)
I'd also like to inform you that it's no low-level stunt to twist one arm to the carseat behind you while driving with the other, in order to pass a chicken nugget into tiny, grasping hands. Not to mention, Madalyn kept getting her cup stuck between herself and her carseat and insisting, "off, off, off," until I began to think maybe someone had replaced her with a German kid back when I was placing our order at the drive-thru.
And the radio wasn't offering much of a distraction. One woman dj on the radio reminded me of a Saturday Night Live skit, as she coaxed her listeners that whether they were making cookies or mince meat pie, she hoped they could just relax and enjoy the music, in a soft and sappy voice. And I MUST know- who makes mince meat pie? (Shiver.) It was apparent when were slowly entering Ocala's surrounding vicinity not only in the number of pick-up trucks and cowboy hats accompanying us on the road, but also in the way that the dj voices got twangier and slangier on the stations. But quite frankly, that was a refreshing change from the woman who spoke poems over mince meat pie.
The best moment of the drive (and yes, there actually was one,) happened long before we reached Ocala, when we drove onto a small road in the middle of farmland, under a big, starry sky through open fields. Evan shouted with excitement, "Look, mommy, are you ready? Look, look, we're going way up into the stars! Here we go!" Not long after this he fell asleep and I was worried he'd choked on a french fry. When I heard him snoring a soft, wheezy snore, I relaxed and settled into my seat a bit.
And now that I have time to sit and ramble on about all of this, as so often happens, it makes me think on bigger things. Surely God must feel like I did that drive. All the whining, all the drive God, DRIVE 's and off! off! off 's. All the more, more, more 's...but for me, when I was the one in the driver's seat, just hearing Evan's excitement over the starry ride and the Christmas lights we passed in Eustis made it all worth it; to be able to give him that. I only wish that I made the ride more "worth it" for God, with far fewer are we there yet 's and drive, DRIVE's. Don't you?
