So, let\u2019s see. She has: Gloves. Scarf. Raincoat. Snacks.\nToothbrush. Spare toothbrush, for when the first one falls in the toilet. More\nsnacks. Compass. Notecard reminders to floss. Notecard reminders to set alarm\nclock. Notecard reminders to wake up for alarm clock. Notecard reminders to get\non the bus. More snacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a lot that goes into prepping for a week-long middle\nschool trip to Washington D.C. That\u2019s what my house has been undertaking for\nthe past week or so: Setting up my 14-year-old daughter for a big bus trip to\nthe nation\u2019s capital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There she will journey to some of our country\u2019s most\nhistoric sites and museums: the White House, Mt. Vernon, the National Archives for\nthe Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, a side trip to\nPhiladelphia for Independence Hall and, of course, the Medieval Times\nrestaurant and jousting show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If that doesn\u2019t scream, \u201cAmerica!\u201d I don\u2019t know what does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It should be a pretty incredible time, filled with history,\nfun, friends and, no doubt, lots of before-bed flossing. (We do have\nnotecards!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But getting ready to send your only daughter on her first\nbig journey away from home, and without her parents, has turned into an\nadventure in and of itself. The packing. The planning. Trying to figure out\nD.C.\u2019s weather, which has swung from predictions of snow to 50s with rain. Only\na slight difference in how you pack for those two! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The school knows its audience. Knows they\u2019re all Floridians.\nSo they sent an email that explains that hoodies are not winter jackets. I\nmean, they are here. In Florida. Heavy weather gear, at that. But the north is\ncold. Like frostbite on your hiney cold. And not all of us Floridians get that,\nand sometimes need a little explaining on appropriate northern weather attire. I\u2019m\nsure that the school has hear a lot of: \u201cSo, you\u2019re saying shorts are no good\nin D.C. in January? OK, how about flip-flops?\u201d We Floridians \u2026 we\u2019re a special\nbreed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But here\u2019s the thing: Of all the things we prepared. Of all\nthe things we thought about. Of all the things the school told us, there has\nbeen absolutely no mention of what we parents are supposed to do without our\nchildren for an entire week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s been sitting with me. Hovering over me. Haunting me.\nMy daughter is an only child, and normally my house is filled with the sounds\nof YouTube and requests for bowls of ice cream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been away from her \u2013 short trips or overnight retreats\nshe\u2019s gone on \u2013 but never this long. And it has me in a swirl of emotions.\nFirst off, what do my wife and I do without a kid around? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talk? Read books? Drive our regular route to school so we\ndon\u2019t get out of practice? Figure out what that \u201cClean\u201d button is on the oven?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you\u2019re a parent, you lose a lot of your identity and\nindividuality. You\u2019re no longer just \u201cyou.\u201d You\u2019re \u201cparent of so-and-so.\u201d\nInmate No. 40592. You drive a car. You make a lot of sandwiches. You do a\nlittle rudimentary algebra \u2026 poorly. And you scream a lot in the morning: \u201cFirst\nbell rings in 5 minutes \u2026 GET OUT OF BED!!!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is who you are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But who are \u201cyou\u201d when you don\u2019t need to do all of that? When\nyou\u2019re just \u2026 GASP! \u2026 you? A person with no paternal responsibilities? An\nindividual again? Someone with their own decisions and free time? HELP \u2026 ME!!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She hasn\u2019t even left yet and I already feel lost. Unneeded. Adrift.\nI\u2019m thinking about taking up stamp collecting \u2026 and the kid will only be gone 5\ndays!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Worst of all, it seems like a harbinger of the future. A\ntaste of what is coming. Or a test. Can we hack it? High school is next year,\nand that seems like a high-speed on-ramp to a post-parenting world. What\u2019s the\nexpression: Empty nest syndrome? It\u2019s not that far away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Am I ready for this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, I have to push it out of my head. Too much planning\nto do. All those reminder notecards to write. Might need a spare for the spare\ntoothbrush. I\u2019ll deal with the quiet, empty house when I get to it. And if I\nhave to fall back on stamp collecting or hitting that \u201cClean\u201d button on the oven,\nso be it? I\u2019m sure lots of pre-empty nesters have had to go there, too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, let\u2019s see. She has: Gloves. Scarf. Raincoat. Snacks. Toothbrush. Spare toothbrush, for when the first one falls in the toilet. More snacks. Compass. Notecard reminders to floss. Notecard reminders to set alarm clock. Notecard reminders to wake up for alarm clock. Notecard reminders to get on the bus. More snacks. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot that goes into prepping for a week-long middle school trip to Washington D.C. That\u2019s what my house has been undertaking for the past week or so: Setting up my 14-year-old daughter for a big bus trip to the nation\u2019s capital. <\/p>\n
There she will journey to some of our country\u2019s most historic sites and museums: the White House, Mt. Vernon, the National Archives for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, a side trip to Philadelphia for Independence Hall and, of course, the Medieval Times restaurant and jousting show. <\/p>\n
If that doesn\u2019t scream, \u201cAmerica!\u201d I don\u2019t know what does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[576,561,8,565],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2020-nutshells","category-family","category-parenthoodandchildren","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2028,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2027\/revisions\/2028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}