Traveling—
The Easy Way or the Hard Way
Dear
Leighton,
Thank you
for joining our Canada trip. I truly admire your determination to get yourself
on the trip at the eleventh hour. When you threatened Bryan with “We can do this
the easy way or the hard way,” I didn’t realize the warning extended to the
rest of us. Nevertheless, everyone loved your last-minute surprise that enabled
us to hone our mountain-moving and hoop-jumping skills.
Papa and I
were at dinner with Uncle Ted and Aunt Shelley when we learned the news. Bryan
and Tyler were almost as surprised as we were. I returned to the airport hotel
to call Delta about a ticket for you and was still on hold with them two hours
later when you finally arrived.
Upon
reflection, your dad dodged a bullet (figuratively and perhaps literally) when
he knocked on the guestroom door at the wrong hotel. Luckily, the man who answered at 10 pm wasn’t
armed. Your dad really should pay more
attention to my texts.
Speaking of
your dad, I doubt he even remembers that he had already paid for a seat on the
7:30 am flight to Boston and had to spend your college fund for those
ridiculously expensive last-minute tickets. I’m sure he didn’t mind sprinting to every
gate in the Atlanta Airport for 12-hours trying to fly standby. What a bonding
experience the two of you had in that Delta Lounge! And the picture of you
asleep in your lunch plate was just too cute.
I regret
that you didn’t get to Boston in time to join us at the Union Oyster House. It
is a famous old seafood restaurant, and your sister ordered a grilled cheese
sandwich. By the way, you would have loved walking through the globe at the
Mary Baker Eddy Library. Someone will probably take you back to Boston one day.
You were
very mature when you learned Anna Lauren was going to the Paul Revere House, and
you had to go to the USS Constitution
with me. Of course, most 5-year-olds don’t know who Paul Revere is. Or the
horse he rode in on.
Your
behavior on the cruise couldn’t have been better. I do, however, apologize for
Uncle Ted. Other cruise ships allow shorts in the main dining room on
embarkation day. Your dad’s salmon would have tasted better had it been served during
in the first hour we were in the dining room, but you were finished with your
kids’ meal by the time the two of you left for the buffet.
I’m glad you
enjoyed the ventriloquist show. I had no idea dummies wanted to be called
“Mannequin-Americans”. I learn something new every day.
Did you
notice that you didn’t really get a headache when I made you to go the kids’
club?
Those two
girls who sat next to you on the back seat of Ollie’s Trolley in Bar Harbor
were just plain rude. No one should pay good money for a tour and then talk
over the guide. I was pleased and relieved that you didn’t offer them the easy
way or the hard way.
The picture
of you next to the Big Fiddle in Sydney, Nova Scotia turned out quite well.
As for an
update on Papa, swallowing the hearing aid battery instead of the sea sickness
pill hasn’t produced any harmful symptoms. I’m not sure if it was more
embarrassing than getting himself locked in the bathroom of the gelato shop in
Malaga, Spain, but you could ask him.
Thank you
for following, and exceeding, our one rule of cruising. Eating ice cream every
day.
I wanted all the kids to see Quebec City. We
would have been on time to meet Duncan, the tour guide, if only I’d realized
that the funicular was so close by. The walk to the summit was a killer. Uncle
Ted was just to about to forgive me for the three-hour jungle hike last summer.
Maybe next year.
I’m glad you
enjoyed Niagara Falls even though you were too young to ride the zipline with
Bryan, Tyler, and Anna Lauren. Thank Aunt Shelley for the trip to Ripley’s Believe It or Not. I went
because I felt guilty sending her by herself with so many kids. Those
nightmares you are experiencing after seeing the shrunken heads, the
three-legged man, and the woman with the discs in her lips should subside soon.
And while
you are at it, thank Aunt Shelley for that bubble bath. We were all praying
that she would be able to find you under there. Fortunately, her hair calmed
down and no longer looks like a bad perm.
Also, thank Tyler
for the piggy-back rides and Bryan for cooperating during big-brother week. The
boys decided to take the easy way.
Leighton
Belle, you are one of a kind.
