ForeverWandering.com

When I do get the chance to take a drive — a REAL drive (long, aimless, not your normal “Sunday drive”) — I often think about what the land would look like without all the buildings, roads, utility poles…you get the picture. Without the touch of people upon it.

Today was one of those days, of course. It was a wonderful 10 hours of driving. I saw Vasquez Rocks first (see post before this one) and the just drove north into the mountains. After drinking in the mountains I drove through a huge valley for a while before hitting mountains again and heading back to L.A. All in all an outstanding day – even had a chance to see a movie!

Now…if I can just get some solid sleep on my red-eye flight, I’ll be in great shape for heading straight vack to work when I land!

At the end of my weekend in California, I wanted to do something besides sit in a meeting or a hotel room. So I decided to drive (no big surprise there). Last time I was here I drove south for a long while before I had to turn around to head back to Los Angeles for my red-eye flight back home — so this time I went north-ish.

Upon doing a little research I found one place I wanted to go — Vasquez Rocks. Some movies and TV shows have had scenes filmed here, including a few Star Trek ones I remember.

I love wandering!

So after a rough evening (“after” for me, Sarah is still with Susan) and while I’m waiting for Sarah to come to bed, I’m thinking about the many things that cause those meltdowns in our children. Mine had multiple meltdowns tonight — they’re usually okay, but meltdowns do happen occasionally. And when I say meltdown, I mean any combination of crying, defiance, screaming, running, pulling, rolling, hitting, refuse-to-go-to-bed…you get my drift.

I think that kids don’t quite understand what is going on around them — but I firmly believe that they *absorb* the emotion from around them. So, for example, if there is the feeling of anger around them — even unspoken — the child can take that anger on. They’re not equipped to deal with it in any way other than crying or becoming “angry” or something similar themselves. Not to say this always happens, but I really think it can. I also happen to believe that my children got my sense of empathy. (Believe it or not, I do get emotional…just stays inside until I feel it is okay to let go of it. But I do cry pretty easily for a “guy”…but there’s nothing wrong with it!

So…when you combine the absorption of emotions with a lot of travelling, late hours, short/no naps, and simply not being at home, that can make for a fun evening.

But then you sit back and watch them sleep afterwards (if you’re not already deep asleep yourself) and smile because you love them.