The time we forgot our clothes for our week-long vacation

“We did it!” I proudly exclaimed to my husband.  Albeit, the term “we” is often used inappropriately in our home.  The majority of the time (i.e. 99% of the time), it actually just means “I” or from my husband John’s point of view, “you” (as in me, Maya)….I digress.  Miraculously, I managed to pack my entire family’s clothes into one backpack. Four people, one backpack.  Anyone impressed?  Also, don’t think that just because two of the people are children the task was easy.  Au contraire, small children are a mystery. You often have to over-pack because you don’t know how dirty their clothes will get, how wet, etc… I was so pleased with myself because we didn’t want to pack too much as our end destination involved travelling the last part on foot.  You see, we were heading to the cottage. A winter wonderland where the roads are often not plowed.  Best case scenario, we only have to walk 500 meters, up one hill in ankle-deep snow. Worst case scenario we have to walk 1 km, with snow up to our knees up multiple hills. We’ve made the mistake of packing too much when doing this trip previously, and that was pre-kids.  My husband and I almost divorced each other the first Christmas we spent at the cottage after carrying what at the time seemed like the entire contents of our house.  While our relationship has remained strong, the memory haunts us to this day. This is why we pack “lightly” for our annual Christmas holiday up North in cottage country.

This year we finally arrived at the cottage after our six-hour commute (not normal). Regardless, we were just happy to have made it. Time to relax, put our feet up, read a book and drink hot chocolate (or wine depending on your age) by the fire.  This is a great part of Canadian winters, so a six-hour journey wasn’t going to deter us.  However, by the time we arrived it was already pitch black, so the 1 km walk in the snow with two kids was going to be a challenge. We decided to only carry the kids for our walk in and my husband and his brother would return later for the rest of the items (clothes, food, toys, gifts, etc…). A few hours later, John went out to grab the rest of our stuff from the car.  Upon his return, he calmly said “well I have some bad news.”   The bad news? “We” (ahem… this is the 1% when it actually doesn’t mean “me”) forgot the bag of clothes at home.”  At first I thought he was joking but I quickly realized that he wasn’t. So… I did what any rational person would do.  I laughed! I mean, what could we have done? We weren’t going to go back home.

While normally forgetting one’s clothes would mean a fun SHOPPING SPREE you must remember we were in rural cottage country.  The shopping choices were limited.  Either way, I decided that we would make an adventure out of it. Go into town, grab some Tim Hortons, shop and then go skating at the local rink. We went to the local Stedman’s store and started our hunt for underwear, socks, pants and tops.  I’m not going to lie, but even before this adventure began, I always joked about getting a shirt of wolves howling at the moon… just for fun.  Well, this was the perfect opportunity for me… and I found it! It even had the town’s name on the sweatshirt.  Pretty much my dream come true.  Even my husband considered getting a matching shirt and he NEVER wants to get anything that even slightly resembles what I own. $128 later, we were out with our new wardrobe, which is pretty expensive for underwear and socks and wolfs howling at the moon sweatshirt. The one pair of “yoga” pants that I bought shrunk in the laundry, and the other long sleeve shirt that I got was a man-style which I would never wear again.  Of course, beggars can’t be choosers, and I didn’t really have a choice.

What could have been a disaster, ended up turning into a great family adventure. All I know is that next time, if we forget our clothes at home, we better be in New York, Paris or L.A. 🙂