One year ago yesterday, we loaded up the van and began the long trek from Virginia to Texas. The following is from another, private blog for family and friends for obnoxious mommying. I get to blog every minor detail of my children’s lives and those who love them can read it or not at their convenience. It’s very helpful when family and friends are scattered far and wide. In that blog, I recorded some adventures of our journey. This is from the first day on the road, one year and one day ago:

After three days of packing/moving and 400 miles of driving . . .

The truck with the small white detail light hanging from his liscense plate: “Hey, that truck is dragging tinkerbell!” Then clapping for the next two miles so the fairy won’t die.

Conversation over whether we will introduce the girls to “Ernest goes to Camp.” No, no we will not.

From the backseat: “Ho, ho,ho, ho, hotel! Ho, ho,ho, ho, hotel! Ho, ho,ho, ho, hotel! Ho, ho,ho, ho, hotel! Ho, ho,ho, ho, hotel! Ho, ho,ho, ho, hotel! Ho, ho,ho, ho, hotel!”

So, we’re off, and it appears we’re alive. I thought Little Miss would be the one who felt it the most, but it turns out that The Sprite was my weepy girl. She cried when we said goodbye to the house. (Little Miss walked through the rooms telling them goodbye.) She cried when we said goodbye to the neighborhood girls. She cried when we said goodbye to our best friends. Do you know how difficult it is to keep it together when you four-year-old is sobbing?

Everyone seems to be okay today. The Sprite doesn’t quite get the concept of 4 days & 8 states. “Is this Texas?” The Bulldozer keeps kicking out the cords to the dvd player and Gigglemeister is not happy about not being held. Little Miss is asking “How much longer to the hotel?” every 10 minutes. But the cats are doing great!

I almost got arrested at a Chic-fil-a somewhere in North Carolina. This snotty little girl was bossing everyone around and being a general pill. Okay, one snotty kid. No big deal, the girls have to learn that there are jerks in the world and how to deal with them. But I notice that it isn’t just the one girl (although she’s obviously alpha dog.) There was definitely a pecking order and the girl at the bottom of the pecking order decided to pick on the only one under her, the toddler trying to play in the only place he could reach which she had claimed as her own. Of course, that toddler was my baby. Not good.

And then I hear, “I know a girl named (Little Miss’s name), but she’s pretty. She has blond hair.” Snotty little girl doesn’t know how lucky she is I was holding Gigglemeister, or I would have been up that ladder in a flash. Realizing the peril we were all in, I called the girls and we left.

So, that’s day one on the road. Day nine million of the whole moving experience. We couldn’t have done this without the help of our church family. Without them, MTG and I would be laying on the ground of our home (which isn’t ours anymore) weeping silently while the kids ran wild. So, Virginia people, don’t forget we’ve got a guest room . . . if we make it to Texas.

Hey Virginia people who might be reading this, we still have that guest room!