driving. riding. typing in the dark.

This is a post typed on my phone well after midnight in a darkened bedroom with five of our children sleeping soundly on the floor around us at my cousin’s home in Virginia after an eight hour drive that didn’t even get started until after four o’clock in the afternoon and I’m thinking about letting it be one giant run-on sentence.

Or maybe not.

It’s a wedding weekend.

Amber plus Daniel equals love, a nautically themed wedding near the ocean, an opportunity to see so many relatives that I love and a long drive across the entire state of North Carolina – the state which tries to separate me from my homeland.

This was a good drive.

Remarkable, really.

I’ve never minded traveling with our children. Yes, we have our giddy, road weary, cabin fever antics, but being cooped up in a rectangle at high speeds for long intervals isn’t anything like the torture television shows portray it as.

Eight hours. Dinner made and served in the car. Two stops for bathroom breaks. And the irony is – both of the stops were for Riley!

At least three passengers never used the restroom the entire 400 plus mile journey.

I was one of those passengers. At Starbucks, I didn’t need to. At Exxon, I chose not to. Let it be known – I do not care for public restrooms. The woods are preferable actually.

Other things this drive reminded me for which I do not care:

The spellings of the gas station Sheetz and the restaurant Fatz. There’s never a need for a word to end with a ‘z’.

Hot Tamale candy. They’re just so sticky. And they taste bad.

Headphones used by backseat passengers.

Realizing too late that updating all 27 apps when you have no wifi access is foolish.

But mostly I liked more about the drive than I disliked.

I liked:

Listening to loads of songs and singing together.

Hearing Piper request “Don’t Stop Believing”.

Secretly eating snacks once darkness fell so no one could see me in the front seat.

Sharing oft-requested stories of our children as babies.

Pulling into the driveway at our cousin’s house and being greeted with enthusiasm and love.

Which is what finds me cuddled comfortably beneath a light blanket upstairs tonight because this home has the novelty of climate control.

Three cheers for a fabulous wedding weekend in the loveliest of all states.