Breakthrough

Happy Beach Boy

Day 4, Coronado

Three days of driving, with a good long overnight stop in Las Vegas that involved two trips to the pool, we found ourselves in San Diego surrounded by lots of family. A visit late into the evening at Uncle Jerry and Aunt Suzy’s beautiful new house on Coronado, and a good sleep at Amy and Tom’s (Thanks everyone, for your hospitality!!) prepared us for a day at the beach; or so we thought. We were tired, no doubt, but this is one of the top 10 beaches in the country, and we’re there with Grandma and Grandpa, aunties, uncles, cousins, and nothing could spoil it. Except the wind.

Ian was terrified to get out of the car. The wind was blowing and we had so much beach gear to blow away. Nothing, not even the soothing and enticement from his big girl cousins, could get him out of that car. This was it; we drove all the way to California for some serious beach time, and his fear of the wind was going to ruin it for him and at least one of us. At a loss, and at an all-time pinnacle of frustration, Maggie and Mommy set out for the beach just a block away while Daddy and Ian sat in the car. I was heartbroken. With tears swelling in my eyes and my stomach wrenched, I took Maggie to the beach. Back at the car, the boys without a plan or a clue what to do next, sat in the heat for a while. Matt had a realization a few minutes into this torture; we had been giving Ian too much responsibility for this. All the negotiation, “we’ll go to the beach and if it’s too windy we’ll leave”, had been too much. He needed to be told that this is what we are doing and he could scream or get mad or do whatever he needed to do to get through this, but we were taking him to the beach. This was for his own good, this boy who loves water was going to be in heaven when he touched that ocean. He was not going to be allowed to ruin this for himself.

Armed with new conviction, Matt set his iPhone timer for 20 minutes. When it went off, they were going to walk to the beach. When the time came, Ian screamed and cried, but he walked. When a little “gust” of breeziness (it is the beach, after all) picked up, his cries would escalate. But as they rounded the corner and the beach came into view, he stopped crying. He said “Daddy, what’s that?”. Matt told him that this was the beach, and he should take his shoes off to feel the sand under his feet. A little reassurance that his shoes would be safe from the wind with Daddy holding them, he started running to the water and never looked back. Three hours of playing in the waves ensued; running, kicking, punching, karate chopping, and getting out all of that angst. The water had defeated the wind, for a day anyway. It truly was a breakthrough, with very, very little mention of any breeze (or outright wind, for that matter) for the rest of the trip. Thank God that at least one parent had some clarity, so the other’s heart was mended seeing her blissful little boy on that beach. Within one hour, we had seen our low and our high of the whole trip.

San Rafael Swell

Day 10,

The road trip is coming to an end. The kids have exceeded our every expectation; they are road warriors. They made it 4.5 hours from Las Vegas to Salina, UT, with only one brief stop along the way. After a gas-up we romped in a little grassy area just off the road in downtown Salina, reorganized our toys and snacks, and were on our way again. We were headed east, through an area without services for 110 miles on the way to Green River, UT. It had been a pitch-black night without a moon when we drove this stretch westward, and we were astonished by the beauty we had missed. Red bluffs, canyons, and impossible looking rock outcroppings in every direction. We were less than an hour out from our last stop when Maggie suddenly wanted out of her carseat. Knowing that this usually doesn’t change until she is freed, we pulled off at the next exit, which was a view area hidden behind the hills that flank the Interstate. We were immediately grateful to Maggie for this unanticipated stop, as the canyon lands that lay before our eyes were breathtaking. White, smooth rock formations with caves carved into them surrounded us. The surreal view pulled us down a rocky slope to find sheer white cliffs and a setting sun that was shedding the most beautiful light on the rocks and the red bluffs beyond. We were in awe, taking pictures, and basking in the glow when we met Tim.

Tim is a truck driver from Colorado Springs whose hobby is photography. He likes to share his perspective of the roads he travels through his photography, and he asked Matt to take some shots of him perched on the cliffs. That mission accomplished, he began spontaneously to shoot pictures of the kids in the perfect sunset light. Turns out that Tim is pretty talented, and soon he was catching very unposed and natural moments of the kids playing around on the rocks. He even took a family photo that just might make a Christmas card, if we ever see it again. I just hope that I wrote down my email address correctly and that Tim finds the time to use it, or we will have lost a rare opportunity. It was one of those serendipitous moments that can only arise from unorchestrated and unscripted chance. I have faith that he’ll email.

Still enchanted by our roadside luck, we drove in to the night. Las Vegas to Boulder in one day with two kids in carseats, arriving around 4am. It has been a great trip, start to finish. I now remember what road trips do not only for the functional fulfillment of a family vacation, but for the soul. We’ve slowed down, been together the whole time; we've had our moments of bliss and laughter, and moments of chaos and frustration. We've eaten too much junk food and drunk very bad truckstop coffee. We've seen much family and many good friends, explored new places, and above all we have re-gained perspective on our little life in Boulder. We are already planning the next trip. Thank you, Ian and Maggie, for allowing it to happen and making it great.