Wish me luck

I listened to a CD of Stephen Covey presenting a seminar on his best seller Seven Habits of Highly Effective People the other day. Somehow I thought a refresher on effectiveness would increase our chances for a successful family adventure. Now that I think about it, a reality check like reading Erma Bombeck’s Family — The Ties that Bind… and Gag! may have been more useful. Nonetheless, Mr. Covey mentioned revising his Family Mission statement.

So that’s what you call it. Ours is more of a survival pact — “you don’t carry out your threat to kill me and I won’t tell Mom.” Maybe that’s what we needed — a family mission statement. Something in writing on a more positive note to cinch up those family ties.

I opened my desk drawer to pull out a pen and paper. As I scribbled “Family Mission Statement” across the top of the paper, the glint from the golden maple leaf souvenir that the GAP had awarded me after enduring our Vancouver misadventure caught my eye.

It took forever, but finally I had our new declaration, influenced by my new BFF Bondo… James Bondo. “Live and let live.”

“We need to work together on this trip,” I told my husband.  I started packing the Honda Pilot while it was parked in the garage. I opened the tailgate. There wasn’t enough room to open it all the way. It rested against the aluminum garage door. In the meantime, my husband wandered outside to get something out of his car on the driveway. He pressed the opener to come back in through the garage. The tailgate began to go up and got caught in the rollup door. It froze — half open, half closed. We’re both a wee bit upset — there’s that united front I was hoping for. After ten minutes of trying to push the garage door away while pulling the open car door down, my husband got in the car and inched it up up farther in the garage. Duh!

Regardless, we are leaving this morning before the early bird even has one eye open —to a rental in Lake Tahoe, with no wireless internet and only one bathroom. That right there sounds scary. The house is out in the boondocks, so I’m coming well prepared. I’ve gathered up board games, DVD’s, and a frozen turkey left over from Thanksgiving. I know you’re thinking, “I’ll bet Penny added the last item just for laughs.” And you would be wrong. And what is turkey dinner without homemade pie? So right now (actually just before composing this post), I baked three pumpkin pies. From scratch — from pumpkin I cooked. Yes, that is true, too. Pureed it right after getting home from the wedding reception. True, again. And the bent garage door? It won’t close all the way, but we believe people are inherently good and we’re okay to go. Ha, ha. Caught you. The garage door came out almost as unscathed as the GAP.

If you’re looking for a get rich quick scheme, you might consider making yourself beneficiary on a life insurance policy in my name.

Miss me? Hope so. I’ve scheduled some posts for the blog while I’m gone. See you a week from Sunday.

Wish me luck.

Related posts:

1. Family vacation nightmare
2. Trip ahoy