<style class="text/css">
<!--
BODY { background: #FFFFFF; color: #000000; }
A:link { color: #000099; }
A:visited { color: #660066; }
A:active { color: #FF6600; }
A:hover { color: #FF0000; }
H2 { font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif; }
P, OL, UL, LI { font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif; }
BLOCKQUOTE { font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, serif; }
.date { font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif;
font-size: 11px;
font-style: italic;
}
.intro { font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, Serif;
font-size: 11px;
}
.note { font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif;
font-size: 10px;
}
.links { font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif;
font-size: 11px;
}
.subhead { font-family: Georgia, Palatino, Times, serif;
font-weight: bold; }
.khaki { font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Sans-serif;
font-size: 10px; background: #CCCC99; color: #000000;
}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#000099" vlink="#660066" alink="#FF6600">
<table cellpadding="5" width="440" align="center">
<tr><td><h2>NOW PLAYING: Baby Baggage</h2>
<p><span class="date">7 May, 2003</span><br>
It's been nearly a year since The Boy was born, and one thing is becoming increasingly apparent: we need a bigger vehicle.</p>
<p>Either that, or we can't take any trips with The Boy until he's about 5 years old. There's just too much <i>stuff</i> to bring. We just returned from a three-day trip to visit family in southern Illinois. It was a trip that, two years ago, The Wife and I could have made with a couple of small bags and the Miata. With the addition of The Boy, we managed to fill the back of the Ford Explorer, and still barely had room for all the "necessities of life."</p>
<p>Now you may think (as I have), that a mid-sized SUV like an Explorer would have room and to spare for three people and the luggage needed on a three-day trip. If at least one of said people is a baby, all bets are off. Better rent a U-Haul, because it'll be needed.</p>
<p>I was complaining about this phenomenon to my sister, remembering that our folks used to take us on two-week trips across the country, piling themselves and us three kids into the station wagon -- and we still had room to play around in the back end of the car!</p>
<p>What happened? Do we <i>really</i> need all that stuff for the kid? How did our parents manage without it? I mean, the cargo room in an Explorer has got to at least equal that of a station wagon -- it's not like we're trying to cram stuff into a Volkswagon -- we should have <i>plenty</i> of free space available on our trips!</p>
<p>"Ah," my sister said, "You're going by what <b>you</b> remember as a kid, which means at that point none of us needed any of that Baby Stuff anymore. A single suitcase held all the kids' clothes, maybe tossed in a few toys, and that was it. No diapers, high chairs, strollers, baby food, playpens, baby toys, extra clothes, carseats -- none of that needed to come along anymore. That's where Mom and Dad got the free space you remember."</p>
<p>I blinked my eyes a bit and realized that of course she was right, and in a few short years we <i>would</i> be able to take a trip with only a couple of bags, and there'd be plenty of space.</p>
<p>Until then, I'm thinking about getting a semi-truck.</p>
<p> </p>
<p class="note">visit the now playing <a href="now/archive.html">archives</a></p>
<p> </p>
</td></tr>
</table>
</body>