Why Go?

Kids don't remember much, from where they left their shoes to whether or not they have homework.  And babies are even worse!  They don't even remember that Mommy always comes back when she leaves the room.  So why would you expend the effort to take them on trips, hauling their gear and working around their schedules?

Because you remember.  We have all these vivid memories from our travels, some good, some bad.  Some of the most enduring memories are the less-glamorous moments, burnished by time into really good stories.  We all remember - not fondly - the time Baby Golda fell of Daddy's shoulders in Seattle, and was just fine.  We recall with a cringe Araceli getting lost near the Mexican border.  But we long to relive boogie boarding with cousins in San Diego, or our godson's beautiful christening in Miami.  The kids might not remember these events, but they have become part of family lore.  We even tell stories from when Scott and I were little kids.  He and his siblings riding in the back of a pickup truck through Idaho...The time Uncle Ryan took 36 pictures of Old Faithful...The way my brothers and I used to ride in the back window or on the front armrest as my parents drove through the night over the Sierra Nevadas to get us to our little beach rental.  Incredibly, we even brought friends along on some of these adventures.

Before school today, we were looking at pictures of Yellowstone.  Xanthe said she had never been there.  Freestone said, "Yes you have, on the way to Montana.  That's where Ptolemy's umbilical cord fell off." 

Now that's a memory!

This post is part of Photo Friday at DeliciousBaby.com.