Thanks, but I pack ALONE

Pack pack pack. That's what I have been doing all weekend. What do we need to carry on the plane and what can we wait a few weeks for and include in our air shipment? Decisions, decisions. Thankfully with the Easter holiday, we had a houseful of family and they were excellent at occupying the girls, so I could actually pack in peace.

Now there are some people who may appreciate offers of help when it comes to packing. Not me. I have lived and learned. I will never forget how Cory "helped" me pack for a trip from Paris to Virginia. I was 4 months pregnant with Sammy & Cory was 17 months old. We were flying from Paris to London to Philadelphia to Charlottesville. This particular trip was a few weeks before my brother Pat's wedding. It was just Cory and I making this trip as Bill was still working in Paris and would fly in for the wedding later. I remember packing the backpack I used as a carry-on while on the floor of our Paris apartment bedroom and Cory peeking inside. Not wanting any "help" I tried to keep her away from my bag as I packed, repeatedly having to remove her not-so-idle hands.

I finished packing and the next morning we cabbed it to Charles de Gaulle airport and from there flew to London Heathrow. The flight to Philly was a surprisingly good one. We were lucky to be the the last row of the plane where there were only 2 seats instead of 3, so we had extra space and no one to bother. Win-win. Cory was also able to walk around the galley smiling at the flight crew and back and forth down the aisles at will. She was a good ambassador by saying 'Hi' to people with aisle seats and sneaked into first class to check out what they were doing behind that curtain. ;)

Once in Philadelphia after an already very long day, I couldn't find my cell phone in my backpack. I looked and looked and looked. I dug and dug and dug. Only after emptying out the entire bag did I discover that it was no longer there. Cory had succeeded in "helping" me pack.

Now, in a normal situation it wouldn't have been that big of a deal, but circumstances conspired against me. We were returning to our new house where we had just moved, didn't know anyone, didn't have a landline at the house, nor did we have internet service. I was also pregnant and had my first appointment at the new obstrician the next day. I spent part of our 6 hour layover reacquainting myself with the use of a payphone, calling my parents & in-laws to let them know we had arrived and were phoneless. We were severely jet-lagged, tired and cranky by the time our flight to Charlottesville left that evening. After retrieving my giant suitcase, carryon, stroller, carseat, and toddler, I dragged everything, including my "is she pregnant or just fat?" self out to the curb get a taxi to take us home. What I then discovered was that at 10:30pm on a weeknight at Charlottesville airport, there AREN'T taxis just waiting to take the throngs of travelers home. It's deserted. Ugh. No cell phone. Double ugh. Thankfully I wasn't the only weary traveler, although I was definitely the weariest, in need of a cab. A nice lady went inside and used the phone at the rental car desk to call for some cabs. I guess she didn't have a cell phone either. Twenty minutes later the first taxi arrives. The 4 other people waiting took pity on me and let Cory and I take the first cab. In that moment I was extremely thankful for the kindness of Americans, and very pleased to have been treated so well at my new home airport. In Paris, that situation would have been even more unpleasant.

Safely home...but wait...there's more. It gets better. The next morning we needed to fill up Old Mother Hubbard's cupboards and head to the grocery store before my obstetrician appointment that afternoon. I strapped Cory's carseat into my car, got in, turned the key and...nothing. Dead battery. UGH. For kicks, I tried to start Bill's car. Dead too. UGH UGH. Now what? No cell phone, no landline, I don't know anyone, it's a weekday so most neighbors would be at work. Both cars were parked in the garage nose-in so we'd have to push one car out of the garage just to be able to reach the battery with jumper cables. I wasn't really up for that. Aye Yie yie. I considered taking Cory for a walk in the stroller around the neighborhood and carrying a set of jumper cables in hopes of making new friends, or walking to the main gate at the Lake (quite a hike by the way) to request help from the police. In the end, I decided to turn the computer on to see if I could find an unsecured wireless network to jump on, then at least I could email or IM someone who might have ideas, or if worse came to worst, contact Enterprise Rental Car because "they'll pick you up." Maybe it was my move to the South, but once again "the kindness of strangers" came through for me. I found an unsecured wireless network (those neighbors have since moved), was able to IM my in-laws, who were fabulous and called up the Lake Monticello Police who sent not one but 2 officers to my house with extra long jumper cables. We got both cars started up and Cory and I were able to make it to the grocery store and to the Dr as well.

All's well that ends well I suppose. But I do carry around lessons learned from that marathon trip.
1. Double and triple check cellphones and power cords before leaving.
2. When leaving for an extended period of time, back the cars into the garage so when/if you need to jump start them, you can reach the battery.
3. Avoid at all costs 6 hour layovers with toddlers.

Now that those lessons have been well learned and chiseled into my brain, when the girls want to help pack, I can calmly and without guilt, tell them: "Sorry girls, but I pack alone."