Mommy ~ Daughter Trips

My mom and I have gotten to take lots of trips together over the years and these mommy~daughter trips are some of my favorite adventures.  It’s an interesting dynamic when we get together.  She’s not super spontaneous, but she is such a good sport hen she’d traveling with me.

About ten years ago we took our first road trip and headed to Orlando.  One of my friend’s from the Master’s Commission was working in Flordia and we stayed with Mama’s best friend from high school.  Every morning we rode up to the Seven Eleven for snacks and then spent the rest of the day by the pool. On this trip we became girlfriends instead of just a child and a parent. The only hiccup in the whole trip happened on the way to Downtown Disney. When I accidently turned into Disney World her demeanor completely changed.  I don’t know if it was the towering pictures of Mickey Mouse that caused some kind of flashback, but she just keep saying, “No, if we go in we’ll never get back out.” She was right, too.  Once you make that turn into Disney World, there’s no easy exit.

About four years ago, Mama and I went to New York City. We didn’t really have a plan, but we knew we wanted to see a show on Broadway.  We stayed in a hotel in Queens just one block from the Subway station. We figured we would hop on the train and head into the city. Sounds easy enough.  Well, getting on the train was easy but figuring out which direction we should travel on the train was much harder. I looked at the map, picked a line and we boarded the subway.  It was packed but at the next stop people began shuffling around and filing out the big sliding doors so we grabbed two seats when they came open. Then the little door inside the car opened and the conductor (is that what they’re called on a subway?) came out. He did a double take when he saw us sitting there. 

“End of the line,” he politely barked, New York style.   

Up until that point, I had been feeling very cosmopolitan.  The international flight attendant taking on the big city. But really it turned out to be more like “country come to town”.

We exited the train, walked across the subway platform and boarded the train headed in the right direction.

A few weeks ago Emily Grace and I got to go on our first mommy~daughter trip. I won a ticket to Blog Elevated in Houston.  (Thank you, The Grant Life.) This was Emily Grace’s first flight and my first flight alone with a child. We were so blessed and the trip couldn’t have gone any better. (Thank you, US Airways.)

All the fun memories I have of trips I’ve taken with my Mama made me aware of how special these trips are. Even before we left, I knew this was a opportunity to be purposeful in my relationship with my daughter.  Being the Mama on this mommy~daughter trip was so amazing because I felt like I was giving Emily Grace memories instead of making memories with her.  I don’t know how that’s different, but it is.

It could be that the most joy a Mama’s heart can receive is from giving to her children.

 PS Check out these Pumpkin recipes from The Grant Life.

PSS Check out what I learned at Blog Elevated on the Voices blog.(updates coming soon)