The Car Nap

Today I had to run a quick errand to pick something up from a friend so I planned it during a time of the day when I knew both kids would probably stay awake and I wouldn't hit that dreaded car nap.

Can we talk about the car nap for a minute? I mean WHAT is the deal with the car nap?

Why can a kid sleep 2.5 seconds in the car and they think it equals a 3 hour nap? It is one of the biggest mysteries of our time. I know there are so many questions to ask the Lord but my main question would be regarding the car nap.

And I've tried the quiet transition, I've tried just sticking them in their bed and letting them cry hoping they'll go back to sleep. Nope. Never works.

So now I just plan my days around making sure that Annie (and sometimes still Eli) gets a quality nap in the bed and not the car.

Back to my errand…. I thought I had planned this perfectly I would be out after lunch, I would talk to them play loud music, sing songs, guranteeing they didn't fall asleep and then come back home before their eyelids got heavy.

If only I didn't make a horrible mistake.

I was driving to meet my friend, all cool and calm thinking I had everything under control, when I didn't even realize I was exiting onto the highway.

It was like that scene straight out of Clueless when Dee gets on the highway and doesn't know it and her boyfriend - the guy from Remember the Titans - is in the back all screaming at her. Except nobody was screaming at me except my mind saying NO NO NO DON'T GET ON THE HIGHWAY - - - - IT'S TOO LATE YOU CAN'T TURN BACK NOW.

So here I was on the highway and the next exit wasn't for 30 miles. Actually I'm not sure if it was 30... it could have been 20, but I know it was more than 10.

Just know that it was enough highway for both kids to fall asleep. Just me and the open road and two sleeping kids and a cell phone on 10% so I couldn't even listen to my good music because I wanted to make sure my cell phone didn't die.

I of course called Luke to let him know what happened. I'm not sure why because he thought it was hilarious but for some reason when something like this happens my mind goes straight to a story on 20/20 and I can hear them talking about how if only her cell phone would have been charged or something like that. So I made the necessary call to make sure Luke knew where we were.

So here I was unexpectedly on the road with about 45 minutes to an hour in front of me.  Just me and my mind. Lots and lots of thinking time.

I started thinking about our year last year, and how crazy it felt - yet somehow in that craziness we knew that God had brought us to it and was helping bring us through it.

And then I started thinking about our "word" that we chose for the year. At this point it's almost become a little cliche but still Luke and I like to choose a word for the year for our family. And this year we chose Freedom.

As believers we have freedom that comes through our relationship with Christ. I so badly want to reflect on this  year because I allow worry and doubt, and sometimes even self-destructing thoughts (like the above "i'm so stupid for getting on the highway thought) to consume me. And this year I want to meditate on and remember that I have freedom from those things. I don't have to live bogged down by worry. Yes it will come, and yes it is easy to let it come and to entertain it, but I'm really going to work this year on being FREE from those rabbit holes of worry. Freedom. It's a good word.

About an hour later we got home and both my children were wide eyed bushy tailed and ready to go go go, and even though I wanted to try and stick them back in bed (let's be honest, I did stick Annie back in her crib and she just screamed like I had abandoned her so I went back and got her admitting defeat) I simply gave up my desire for a super clean home before our small group and my desire to get some work done and just spent time with them.

It was nice to have a little time to just sit and reflect and think. If they had napped at home I would have been running around like crazy trying to get stuff done, but instead I just had some "chill" time. It was nice.

But I'm not going to lie…I still hate the car nap.