We drove all day. 12 hours, maybe more, in a car with two little ones.
I read, we talked. The sun went down. All that can take place after that are thoughts and quiet murmurs while sleeping girls ride in the back seat.
I remember car rides growing up. One year we went from Michigan to Texas, then west...maybe Colorado and Montana and back east again. So. much. travel. I can only imagine how it was with 4 kids plus my brother's friend who traveled with to Texas.
I remember being in the passenger seat as my dad drove in the early hours of the morning, heading back east. I think sometimes I prided myself for taking on that "role"...the one who quietly rode in the front, keeping my dad awake in the night hours. Now, thinking about it, I probably slept and he was awake alone.
On shorter trips I remember falling asleep in the back of our van to my parents' quiet murmurs. I always found something comforting about those moments, their conversations, even if I couldn't hear what was said or didn't understand them. Now those murmurs are ours...filled with figuring out life. And, I still find comfort.
The dark hours can sometimes be the best. The quiet and peace that come. The time when its too loud to talk and you're left with your thoughts, for there is nothing else to be done.
