Travel, Writing

From Love to Hate and Vice Versa

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BlogHopButton[1]Once upon a time I loved to eat pasta. I ate it all the time. It was a cheap food for a young woman who was in college and paying for it herself. Also, during the late eighties pasta was touted as being fat free and healthy. I’d eat mine tossed in Italian dressing and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. I was little back then, but I never did achieve six pack abs, despite thousands of sit-ups and daily work outs. Hmm, I wonder why? I kind of hate pasta now – I rarely eat it.  And when I do, I feel terribly bloated.

I used to love working out, but now it’s a chore – l love the way it makes me feel, hate the dread I feel leading up to it.

I used to love baking in the sun. I can’t anymore. I hate what it’s done to my skin.

I used to love shoulder pads, they made me feel like a bad-ass. I hate shoulder pads now.

I used to love having a packed schedule and making to-do lists – long ones. Oh, the satisfaction of crossing off each item. I was the classical Type-A personality.  Now, I dread looking at my calendar and to-do list each day. I long for nothing to do.

That’s all I could really come up with for this week’s Finish the Sentence Friday prompt, “Something I used to love, but now hate is…” Kind of embarrassing since I’m the one who came up with the sentence!

I’m going to flip the script.

I used to hate Brussels sprouts, mustard, horseradish, olives, jalapenos, avocados, and beets.  Love these foods now.

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I was never a fan of running – participating or watching. I started running in my late twenties and although I didn’t love it, I did really like it. A non-running-related injury to my knee has made running (frequently) a no-no, but because I love how it makes me feel, I’ve made accommodations to continue running – occasionally. As the mom of two track starsJ, I also now love to watch other people run.

I used to hate watching the news and reading anything about politics. I love it now (even though I detest most politicians).

I wasn’t always certain that I wanted kids, but I love being a mom.

RWMLogoI used to hate travel by car, but no more. In fact, I love road trips so much that I have a sister blog, Road Warrior Momma, which is all about our adventures. And I’ve started writing a travel column for My Forsyth Magazine. Below is my first column:

For the Love of the Road

I love road trips!  Over the past five summers, my children and I have traveled almost 40,000 miles, by car.  We’ve been to thirty-six states and five provinces.  By “been to,” I mean we’ve stayed and toured. Merely driving through does not count!  It has been a privileged to see so much of our beautiful country – Acadia National Park, the beaches of Cape Cod, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, Niagara Falls, Mackinac Island, the Alamo and the Grand Canyon.  I can’t wait to go back out on the road and see more.

My new found love of road travel is somewhat ironic, because only ten years ago, I refused to drive anywhere that took longer than three hours.  I was all about the air miles.  After the birth of our fourth child, I realized that my flying days were over.  There was no way I could afford to see all that I wanted to if we traveled by air.  So I bought some maps and joined AAA.

The seed for our first trip was planted when I read a book that was set in my mother’s hometown, a place I hadn’t been in thirty years. I did some research online about Lowell, MA, and got very excited to explore.  I also got curious about where my dad grew up, just outside of Boston, and of course this led to a long list of must-sees in Bean Town.  I added several stops to see family and friends along the way, and the list grew into a thirty day itinerary.

The trip itself was liberating.  I really felt like, “I am woman, hear me roar,” because I did the majority of the trip on my own.  That’s right, just me and my children, whose ages at the time ranged from 2 – 9.  Everyone thought that I was nuts, especially my husband.  To be fair, he had real job and could not possibly join us for thirty days, but he did fly in for a couple of weekends.

The trip was a total success and I got the bug.  I couldn’t wait to start planning the next summer’s adventure.  I’ve learned a lot over the last five years, and I’m going to share that with all of you.  My future columns will be about the planning, preparation and execution of a road trip. I will divulge tips I’ve learned to make life on the road easier and cheaper, some of which I had to learn the hard way.  There will be some funny anecdotes, and information about places we’ve visited. I hope you’ll join me!

 ♣

Right now I’m in the thick of road trip planning. Traditionally, I’ve documented our trip on Road Warrior Momma. My RWM posts are raw and uncensored. The blog was originally started so that family and friends could follow us on our adventure. Some may find the personal details about my family (temper tantrums, complaints about smelly feet, unconventional bathroom pit-stops) to be TMI and/or uninteresting – which I totally get! I’ll share heavily edited and consolidated posts on The Latchkey Mom, so I don’t lose touch with my tribe over the summer.

BlogHopButton[1]This post was inspired by FTSF. I am cohosting this week, along with my friends Kristi (of Finding Ninee) and Kelly (of Just Typikel).

“For the Love of the Road” was originally published in My Forsyth.

What did you used to hate that you now love? Do you enjoy road trips? What are your summer plans?

 


29 thoughts on “From Love to Hate and Vice Versa”

  1. Having driven the 13 hours to Calgary from Vancouver through the Rocky Mountains with my then 5 and 6 year olds I understand that feeling of empowerment. I tip my hat to you, girl. Good on you! I look forward to checking out your other blog as well. How fun. And I love how you flipped YOUR sentence. Nice job.

  3. HAHAHAHA I am cracking up that you struggled with the prompt you designed 🙂 Same thing happened to me with I wonder..I had something in my brain when I came up with it and BOOM it vanished somewhere between then and when it was to be written!! Congrats on your feature, Road Momma!

  4. So I’ve taken long-ish road trips with the family, but nothing of the caliber that you do each year. I’m guessing that you must have a camper or something like that — staying in motels for a months would be SO expensive! I do like to travel, and there are so many wonderful things to see in our country. I’m feeling a little bit jealous/wistful right now….

    Enjoy yourself this summer, and please don’t be a stranger to FTSF!!!

    1. I won’t I promise. Each Friday I’ll be checking in on all of you! I don’t have a camper, but a big SUV. I have hotel rewards points and a CC that earns those points. I play a shell games with rates/dates/and points. Admittedly, we don’t always stay in the nicest places:). But they’re clean and safe.

  5. I’ve gone the other way on road trips. Loved them as a kid when I read for hours and hours in the back seat (I get sick now if I read). But now with two small children in car seats and husband who doesn’t like driving much, it’s too hard to be the lone cheerleader for a road trip. Now if I could just take off on a trip all by myself with a stack of sing-along-able CDs, that would be heaven.

    1. When I drive, I listen to audio books. Honestly, I don’t think I could do it with out my audio books. And when my husband joins us, he insists on driving. I can read in the front seat – but not in back. It’s the strangest thing, I get so nauseous. And still, even in the front seat, winding roads will get me.

  6. I love road trips too! But I cannot stand beets. Seriously I can barely look at them when they’re in the salad bar. LOL to shoulder pads – they were super cool. I remember when pasta was considered healthy. I wish it still were… sigh.

  8. Oh I really hate road trips. But we do the same one every year for sure at Christmas. It’s the most boring ride for NC to Louisiana. We spend the night in Alabama and the only thing I looked forward to here and back is the hotel we stay in. We stay in the same one every time. It feels so good to stop and rest.

    As for shoulder pads, ugh, I hope they don’t come back in. I saw a few episodes of Who’s the Boss not long ago. Everything that “Angela” wore was HIDEOUS!

    1. I thought Angela’s clothes were hideous back then, I can’t imagine my perception now! As or your road trip – NC to Louisiana is a boring drive. There’s not much to see, so I can understand you lack of enthusiasm:)!

  9. I used to love road trips and would drive anywhere. Now? I’m quite possibly the most terrified driver I know. Well, highway, anyway. I’ve learned to hate the highway. I think it happened when my Daughter happened. 😀
    Shoulder pads…I love how many 80s things popped up this week. And baking in the sun? Did you get slathered up with Coppertone tanning oil, too?
    Love beets. Always have.

    1. I’m a much better driver on the open highway. It’s the local traffic and stops and starts that drive me crazy. Coppertone? Momma – I went all in : Baby Oil!

  10. I am scared of road trips! I will pile my four kids onto a plane any time, but the furthest we’ve traveled by car is San Francisco to San Diego. But you have helped me feel less afraid. Thank you, Allie :). And what an awesome column!

    1. Oh Nicki, plane trips scare me. By myself, sure. But with my four kids? No way. Oh my God – just getting them through security without an incident would be a miracle (one of mine had autism). Not to mention the cost. But I’ll have to do it one day – can’t drive to Hawaii!

  11. I used to love pasta! Now it makes me feel very full. I guess it’s bloating – it expands in stomachs.
    I used to hate brussels sprouts and now I love them too!
    Ok, road trips. I’ve always loved them. It’s harder these days but I used to just pick up at the drop of a hat and go places.
    I need to tell those stories!

  12. I love your road trip posts, and I’m looking forward to following you on your adventures this year. I’ve thought about posting when we are in Europe, but I think the wifi connection will make that difficult. I may just journal while we are there and post when we get back – I’m sure I’ll have enough to say to take me through the rest of the summer!

  13. I hear ya on the dreading the lead up to the work out – yup, me too! As far as road trips go, we used to take a lot of them when I was kid, driving to the Cape and up to New Hampshire to see the fall leaves. We don’t do much of it now, except once from the bay area to Disneyland with a cranky, most of the time yelling 2-year-old. Not doing that again for a while!

    1. Yes, it’s very hard to travel by car with the kids are that young. My daughter was so bad in the car that her dad would fly me (with her) to where we were going and he’d drive with the boys.

  14. It is weird how pasta makes you feel awful doesn’t it?? Maybe they just put more junk in it now then in the 80s of should pad fun:) This was such a cute post and it is crazy how we continue to change our love/hate passions for hobbies/food/etc, I guess we always will!

    1. It really is weird. And I agree with you about the additional additives. Because you never hear about Italians (in Italy), complaining about the affects of pasta!

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