Monday, December 3, 2012

Road Tripping Memories

I am so filled with happiness and delight watching today's Marilyn Dennis show. Marilyn and her son did a road trip from Calgary to Jasper and they are chronicling their road adventure on today's show. As I am finishing writing up this month's Zawada Health newsletter, Marilyn is on in the background, Owen is napping in my wrap, and I'm enjoying a cinnamon heart puerh tea from David's! What a great morning. Watching them do their road trip filled my mind and heart with all our family road trips growing up. The Zawada's are master road-trippers. It's truly in our blood I think. If my parents weren't working hard during the season on the tobacco farm, they were throwing us in the car and driving everywhere.... from the Sunday drives in the summer to Kitchener to go to Sportsworld, to the mini road trips to Buffalo shopping, to all the Florida drives, to the cross country trips to Alberta and everywhere in between! There is something special that bonds a family or friends when stuck in the car for hours on end. I remember doing flash cards with my sister in the car, playing helicopter in the car (before seat belts were mandatory!), being threatened to get left at the side of the road if we didn't behave and of course all the stops along the way that cement a trip in your mind. I remember all the music (oh Beyonce!) and all the gas stops and the farm smells driving across Canada with my dear friend Andrea. I remember driving through the night with Chris on the way out East unable to find a hotel to stop, driving with one eye open through the dark, moose-filled highways around a town called Edmunston in New Brunswick. And of course let's not forget as a true Canadian what's a road trip without Tim Horton's along the way! I guess the other reason why road trips are on my mind is because my mom called me this morning and told me that their Ford pick-up truck is 172 km away from turning over to a million km. CRAZY!! I told you the Zawada's are real road-trippers!!! There is something truly special about being on the road and watching the world go by and enjoying either the colour of the leaves in autumn, the snow on the trees in the fall, the smell of the freshly ploughed soil in the spring or the sight of the sun reflecting everywhere in the summer. Now with a 5 month old I cannot wait to start road-tripping and making new memories for our new family of 3!