Empty Nesting

 We decided to fly the kids - Megan, 18 and Gavin, 16 - along with our 80-pound lab Sadie to Alaska. We arranged for them to stay with their grandparents in New Hampshire while Mike and I drive. ("It will be like a second honeymoon," he said. Yeah, right!) 

Anyway, we did the math and realized flying them is cheaper than feeding and housing them along the 10-day (or so) journey. It also saves us from dropping a constant stream of quarters into the therapy jar every time we hear things like “Are we there yet?” or “Leave me alone, Gavin!” or “I'm hungry again” or “How much further are we going today?” or  “Okay, how many miles are we driving tomorrow and how long will that take?” or “I didn't have to use the restroom when we stopped 30 minutes ago, but now I do.” 

As much as we love and miss them both, text messages such as, “Can you please send money ? I need new running shoes?” will have to be enough to see us through the few long, dark, empty nesting days ahead.