ROAD TRIP TO PA PAW
My nanny is currently in Kona, Hawaii. My bestie is in Tulum with her husband. Another friend just landed back in Nashville from Skiing the perfect powder with her family in Montana. And we are currently at a truck stop with a flat tire somewhere outside of Atlanta.
There’s a time and place for all seasons of your life. For a first time solid kiss under a Hawaiian sunset, for a long Italian staycation, or for a forever honeymoon with your lover. And then there’s the baby season.
Most of us moms in this season know that spring break isn’t really spring break at all. It’s more of gimme a vacay from spring break vacay. It’s more survival mode than margarita mode. But this is also the season that we’ll never get back. And that leads us to take the road trip to Pa Paw.
Truth be told, I’ve had several spring breaks in my adulthood to fill my cup 10 times over. I’ve done Hawaii, Mexico and skiing white powder like the California snow bunny I always thought I was. And even though I scroll my midnight instagram seeing my friends in wild and extraordinary places, I also realize it’s the perfect time to take the road home. Or rather, to my husband's childhood home. Because Pa Paw and Nana could surely use a visit from those of us in the baby season. Because these babies that are soon to be grown up, won’t always be this small. And Pa Paw and Nana won’t always live in the North Georgia Pines.
The road trip to Pa Paw is not easy with twin two year olds. Someone screams, someone might throw up and you might get a flat tire half way there. But on the contrary, this road trip during this particular season of my motherhood life, is one I’m sure to miss. Because as the husband and I graduate the baby season and enter into a new season of life and that realization is real, that’s where my heart stops.
Because Pa Paw won’t always be here. And the giggles out of the babies mouths when he creeps around the corner making a bear growl while simultaneously tickling his favorite 2 year old twin grandsons, only happens once in this lifetime. Because this is 2. And then they’ll be 5. And then 15. And then they're gone. And for better or worse, in sickness and in health, we all know this to be true. And so, this spring break is the road trip to Pa Paws. It's a sunset stroll on the farm with his grandchildren explaining that pine sap is sticky and rose bushes have thorns. It's walking through his big red barn to see the truck he's been building for years. It's bedtime stories followed by nighttime stories about his parents (mama the republican and daddy the democrat), and Nana’s spitfire of a mama and them all gone too soon. And here I am, the adult, the daughter in law, the California girl on the North Georgia farm. And I'm the one who's thirsty for more. More memories, more knowledge and more time. Because my heart wants to be in the now, here. And yes, Paris in the springtime is always a good idea. And And I look forward to returning to that gorgeous city, but currently, on this spring break, Georgia is on my mind, and man, ain’t she pretty.
