Jun 13, 201210:34 AMCup of Joe
Your weekly dose of strange parenting news, trends, and polls
Sometimes you have to give up the wheel
The day came and went in a flash—and surprisingly went off without a hitch, thanks to the help of many family members and friends. From watching my wife walk down the aisle to arriving at the reception, to dancing our first dance, it’s all a bit of blur. Fortunately, about 1,000 pictures were taken to memorialize every angle of our wedding day—including a shot of me getting cake shoved up my nose—so it’s all coming back to me very quickly.
Following our wedding service, we embarked on our honeymoon through Virginia and on to South Carolina. We had a great time, but I learned that your first 10-hour car ride as a married couple can actually teach some good life lessons.
Let me say I can’t imagine how parents do it. The trek is arduous enough as you travel 200 miles down a stretch of highway that never seems to change, without having kids wondering if they’re there yet or fighting in the back seat.
As we started our long drive back from Myrtle Beach about three hours later than expected (planning to wake up at 7 a.m. while on vacation wasn’t a good idea), I intended to drive the entire stretch—not that I don’t trust my wife’s driving skills, but in my new role as a husband I felt it my obligation.
The first few hours went smoothly. We made a few stops at intriguing gift shops along the way, but as the hours wore on, I began to grow weary of the monotonous Interstate 95. I turned down offers to drive from my new spouse, but upon reaching the seventh hour and straying a little too close to the rumble strips along the side of the road, my determination broke and I grudgingly offered her the wheel.
I took the passenger seat and immediately went into an hour-long sleep. I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the home stretch. My wife graciously offered to return the wheel and we arrived safely at home.
But what I neglected to realize from the beginning of our car ride, is that we are both in this together now, and that we’ll have to give and accept each others’ help to work as one cohesive unit—even if that does mean occasionally surrendering the wheel.
How does your family handle who gets to drive? Share your answer in our comments section below.
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Since I am better with directions, typically I am the navigator and my husband is the driver, unless it is an ardously long drive, then we generally split it 50/50 (like our overnight, yes overnight, drive to Charleston, SC with our one year-old and our 70 lb. Boxer). Yes, we were crazy, and no we will never do that again. My husband always relishes telling people "she's a great navigator, she's really good at telling me where to go" to incite a few chuckles from his audience! We've been married almost 7 years and he thinks that never gets old! HA!