Forgetful Childhood Memories

It's hard to believe that at this time last week the oldest three kids and I were anticipating a long drive to frosty Pennsylvania for a much anticipated ski trip with the youth group.

Ah, but despite all the anticipation, we still failed to really ready ourselves.  What can I say? These kids are their mother's offspring.  And many of my childhood family vacation memories included the same key ingredient: something was always left behind.

Probably the most memorable item that was left during my childhood was the suitcase containing all of my sister and my clothes.  Yes folks, we went on a vacation without our suitcase.  But really, it was such an innocent mistake. You see, that year for Thanksgiving, my entire family on my father's side made the pilgrimage to Plymouth, MA.  From Virginia we drove to New Jersey where we spend the night with the family living up there.  The next morning, my sister and I repacked our suitcase, brought it down to the front door of my grandparent's house, and sat in the car for the long drive to Boston.  That night night in a faraway hotel, we had one of those familiar conversations where everyone looks at each other, pointing and saying, "I thought you packed the suitcase."

So was I really surprised last week when I found out on our way to Pennsylvania to ski  that my kids were without ski jackets? I won't lie.  For a split second, my blood boiled.  It quickly cooled though as I started laughing.  Because, guess what?  My kids and I pointed the fingers and each other and, just like my family did, and we said, "I thought you packed the ski jackets."

Typical of this warm winter, last Friday was almost hot.  The kids didn't need jackets when we left the house.  And the sunny, temperate day almost lulled me into believing that we could gloss over this mistake by layering up with hoodies and wearing every single shirt that the kids packed while on the slopes.  However a quick trip to WalMart spared the kids of any discomfort on the windy mountain top.  Well, two cheap jackets and some ski jacket that was left at our house.  I don't know who left it or when it was left, but it's been in my van all winter. Thanks to the random jacket in my van, my 7 year old wore camouflage over her pink snow pants.

Like my daughter wearing clothes not meant for her, my sister and I shared what clothes my mother had packed in her suitcase.  We make do.  It's no big deal.  It's funny.  And we'll probably never stop forgetting to pack those key articles of whatever that we need because that's who we are.