To infinity and beyond

It’s not unusual for me to take the kids on an unexpected road trip, I do it a lot.  In the past, as a family of four, these roads trips were riddled with anxiety, arguments and impatient “hurry ups”.  Not this time.  Not as the amazing threesome we have become.

Hannah got a telescope for Christmas and has been dying to try it out.  My kids are fascinated with the moon, the solar system and how it all works.  Hannah wants to be a scientist and research space when she grows up. (Last year she wanted to run an ostrich rescue farm but who am I to discourage her dreams)  Grant of course will be the astronaut/jedi who brings her all the space samples to analyze.

Unfortunately, it’s been so cloudy here that there hasn’t been a good night to do it.  Seeing that the sky was only slightly cloudy, the kids begged me to head out to the driveway to try it out.  Too overcast and too bright, we didn’t see a thing.  Disappointment followed by sadness emerged and the kids slowly walked back to the front door.

I suddenly heard myself say, “Grant, go get mommy’s car keys and purse.”

I decided, on the spot to surprise the kiddos and take them on a back road trip, at night, in our jammies to have a look at the almost full moon. 

Armed with a telescope, binoculars, mini telescope, donuts for the kids and coffee for mom, we headed out in the car, into the country side where it was quiet and dark and still.

As we drove, the kids chatted quietly in the back about stars, aliens, planets, crop circles, meteors and the how the sun actually makes the moon glow. I learned that this August is a blue moon and that the Milky Way isn’t really made out of milk.  I sat and listened to the amazing conversation going on in the back seat and marvelled at how grown up they both sounded.

As we drove further, the city lights far behind us, I pulled over.  This is the part that is unlike me.  Pulled over, in the dark, on a back country road in my pajamas in January???  Normally I would have images of every horror movie I ever saw, visions of some truck not seeing us and plowing into the back of the car…every horrifying thought a mother could have.  But not tonight.  For some reason, I felt a peacefulness that hasn’t been present in me for quite some time.

I pulled over, left the car running with the lights on for safety, and let the kids enjoy the view.  A dark country road looks very different than it does in the day time when you are in a hurry to get wherever it is that is so important.  After a few minor adjustments with the telescope and realizing binoculars work better turned the correct way, we noticed that clouds were less thick than in the city. Seatbelts forgotten, crouched on their knees with heads and arms hanging out the windows, we enjoyed the magic of the moon.  The kids swore they saw a UFO and talked excitedly about someday travelling through space. Grant even offered to bring me back a star as a souvenir.

 I relaxed (which is somewhat difficult to do on the side of the road, in the dark with two kids hanging out the windows) sipped my coffee and sent a thought into the universe that the warmth and love I felt at that moment would be with me whenever I needed it.

It was then I realized…I don’t have to take them on pricey vacations, over rated lodges or theme parks.  (Although it would be nice)  I often feel bad that as a single mother I can’t afford the things/trips that their friends have.  But, for that half hour, on a back country road, in our reliable Honda Civic, we had the whole universe at our fingertips, which beats long line ups and hotel beds by lightyears.