One month later - coffee and Legos

It has been exactly one month since our epic road trip and there are two memories that I just can’t shake but somehow managed not to write about in all of the blogs.

I suppose 10 days of quarantine will give you plenty of time to think, especially about the last time you were really together with your family.

Coffee: I can’t remember how it started but I appreciated it every day thereafter. While in the hotel room on Bakersfield, the kids discovered the coffee maker and individual pods. After some clambering about who got to go first, both kids had learned the three simple steps of making coffee in hotels. And Martin and I were 100% the willing and eager beneficiaries of this new found talent of theirs. From Bakersfield onwards, I was treated to hot coffee in bed at each and every hotel room. And it was amazing. I don’t think I truly appreciated it until Mother Day’s rolled around and I realized this could have been my year (the first of many I had hoped) of coffee in bed.

My Lego Set: The other random memory of the trip was the Lego set I bought for myself while at LEGOLAND. Of all the things I purchased on the trip this was the one I was most excited about. And of course it was also the only purchase and, actually the only item in total, throughout the whole trip, that was lost along the way. While Oskar and Martin were on the big roller coaster Alva and I headed to the Lego store to pick out her coin purse and to keep her mind off the disappointment of being too small for some of the rides. Being the marketer’s dream that I am, I made a last minute impulse purchase of a small jeep Lego set that was less than 50 pieces and within arm’s reach of the cashier line. Shortly thereafter we found ourselves back at the hotel room for quiet time. Oskar had already dug into his Lego box to begin his hovercraft and Alva was playing with my bag of Legos. Before I knew it Alva and Martin were putting together my new purchase. Despite my desire to grab my new toy away and refuse to share, I took two deep breathes and made myself become okay with the situation. I mean I am a grown adult, my child wants to play with the new toy and I had plenty of time to take it apart and put it back together while at my desk at home. Oh if only I had known. Somehow in the shuffle of packing and unpacking between all of the various stops and visits the jeep didn’t make it back to SF. So my impulse buy has turned into an obsession to find and replace my lost toy.