Sandwiched Support

Tag: travel

  • July 15, 2025

    Rain Storms

    There has been so much rain in our area back home lately that some of the local parks have had to close or make modifications to the hike program we love due to heavy mud or down trees. Our swimming instructor sent an email that their pool, basement, and street had taken on so much water and were such a mess that our being away on vacation isn’t the only reason our daughter didn’t have swimming lessons today. Challenging weather comes and goes and can certainly be unpredictable from surprise storms to states of emergency, the worst does happen sometimes and we do not know when.

    Today we had the privilege of being part of a river rafting experience, mild when it came to rapids, but packed with the beauty of nature and the friendly hospitality. The experience was rain or shine and after a pleasant initial half hour the downpour that both weather apps and clouds in the sky told us to expect began. Delightfully the kids laughed through almost the entire experience as I ended up hunched over, protecting the cell phones in a bag close to me. And then some hail pounded down as well and all the while we continued to float along. Time didn’t stop and we were in the thick of the experience without a pause or a stop. Ponchos were offered to us by our guide (who was fantastic!), but we chose to persevere without. As I waited for what ended up being two rounds of storms to pass, I watched the delicate raindrops dance on the water and remarked at how beautiful they looked hitting the river.

    Watching those raindrops was quite grounding for me in those moments, as was the laughter and relaxed chatter between my children. On a day when I had to make a call to a family member’s doctors, regarding some test results, while navigating spotty cell reception as we traveled, this was a valuable pause. As the weather intruded upon our tour, a glimpse of peaceful, mindful radical acceptance and refocus came into play and provided the pause I needed to keep going.

    May we the sandwiched find that pause as we navigate each additional challenge that arises and may we always be able to see beauty in small and big ways while we keep going.

  • July 10, 2025

    He’s Driving

    Still in the thick of Packing Prison as we have airline tickets and that means that there’s no margin if we don’t leave on time and there’s also no margin for shoving in some extras around everything else in our large SUV. It has to fit in the bags for the plane. And for me, the maximalist, this is my Everest.

    Super used to having plenty of room for way too many outfits, all of the bells, whistles, extras, and even the kitchen sink plus little gifts to keep the kiddos entertained in the vehicle. We will head to a local familiar chain store when we reach our destination and figure it out, but there’s just nothing like taking everything you wanted to take and then some. I will admit that I rarely if Ever have used everything I’ve packed in the past and this is a go, go, go adventure trip and all of the kids will have options for some screentime for long drives.

    But as I type this and get ready to head to the laundry room to move a load over and put in yet another load after having the kids ALL day (ran to one child’s camp, saw online clients, completed documentation, made simple meals though my husband did warm up an easy dinner, took the kids on a short hike and to the pool with friends, answered a million questions and dried tears ALL before my husband got home from work) I noticed that it is this dark in our bedroom (I stopped in there to fill the toilet paper rack in our bathroom with new rolls after shushing the kids for the 100th time and mentioning consequences to get them back into their rooms) but my husband is lying in bed all tucked in where he has been since around 9:30 PM when he insisted he couldn’t do anything else but go right to bed because he isn’t feeling well, with his headphones in watching an action movie on his phone. I often watch something long after I should be asleep (more on that another time), but I can’t help but feel that I (and many other primary caregiver parents) am getting the short end of the stick while being expected to be the one to stay up late several nights this week to get everything packed and together.

    He will pack the car and drive us to the airport and make sure we get everywhere on time. I have it better than many because he is in charge of the tickets and keeping all things related to the hotels, the excursions, the rental mini van, etc etc etc together. And he will drive us everywhere because he likes it and I hate it. But still, I’m packing for 5 and he will throw his own things in on top and will lose zero sleep in preparation for this trip.

    He’s driving. I am thankful he’s driving. I guess I’ll be comatose during the travel because it’s unlikely that I’ll be functioning by then and this is nothing new. Someone’s gotta pack and it isn’t going to be him.

  • July 9, 2025

    Packing Prison

    A Super Mom of 5 girls who is a friend of mine once texted me that she could not attend something I was hosting because she was in “packing prison” and oh what a prison it is. I am currently there myself, trying to pack for our family vacation while catching up way too much work and other loose ends related to support for my parents for our time traveling. It will be the first time any of our four children are flying on an airplane and my first time flying in 20 years since our honeymoon. We are excited for an adventure and all of the sight-seeing and memory making we plan to do. And a bright spot today was that we found out that Mom does not need to continue the nutrition monitoring bloodwork for which the orders were all screwed up. So no need to keep making phone calls about that. The one phone call my mom made was returned today with the good news. All of the calls I made were apparently for nothing this time as none of them were returned.

    Weirdest thing ever though, as I was rushing out of my driveway to take my daughter to art camp this morning I received a call from someone naming a doctor and stating that she was calling from his office and that he is a chiropractor and that I left a message. I was extremely confused and stated that neither myself nor any of my family members have called a chiropractor and she read me back what was supposedly my phone number that she just called me at. I politely informed her that that is not my number (it was not even close). So then there are random wrong number calls. You just can’t make this up.

    We are working on figuring out how many suitcases to take and plan to pack all 6 of us in each suitcase and just pull the suitcase we need for the couple of nights we are spending at each location along the way, but we must pack so that the suitcases will fit in the rental vehicle (we practiced with my sister-in-law’s vehicle as it is very similar to what we have reserved) and we have the bag fees per bag from the airlines to consider as well. We will have only a couple of specific spots to do laundry so the packing itself is an adventure.

    I will detail my plan for support for my parents, our dog, and our home while we spend this time away in another post, but know that if it is a huge ordeal for you to step away not only from your professional life, but also from your day to day personal responsibilities living the sandwiched life.

    And I will end with this. My husband an I frequently remind each other that this is a Trip, not a vacation (a fact that I know many blogs have written about before as it is SO relatable), because the kids will be along, fighting, and complaining and we will just be parenting in another location. But we are definitely thankful that we have the privilege of going and we know we will be grateful for the memories as we look back.