“No -- hoho.” I say and she laughs with me.
“Are we going to ride our bikes to Virginia?” she inquires.
“No. It’s too far.” I reply. “Actually, sweetie, we’re going to drive to our new house in Virginia. It will take a lot of nights and days. We will drive for at least eight days and sometimes nights.”
“That’s a long time.” Franny ponders, “We’re going to sleep in the car?”
“Yes, we’ll drive for a long time,” I share. “But we’ll have lots of activities in the car with us. We will also stop and camp or stay at a hotel.”
“Will we eat in the car?” Franny asks.
“Yes, I will pack some healthy snacks and a few treats, but we are going to want to get out of the car and move around and eat at restaurants. We will stop often to do fun things in other states named Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee.” I reassure her of our upcoming PSC trip.
This is the dialogue revolving around our big cross country move from San Diego. In addition to lots of conversations, we find books at the library that simplify and describe the moving experience. Friends need to be seen, cleaning needs to occur, minds need to be soothed, and favorite outings need to be revisited. Days at the beach, pool, and park turn shorter, but all with great positive anticipation of moving. And there are many activities that fill our evenings such as completing paperwork, house hunting, and researching schools and extracurricular activities.
While working on one PCS tradition of cleaning out the refrigerator, Franny, Gertie, and I attempt making a peanut butter cake. We locate one jelly roll pan and a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish we use as our mixing bowl. Instead of self-rising flour, there is only bread flour in the pantry. With another deviation and prayer that the lack of baking soda will not damage this calorie-loaded delicious dessert, I grease the jelly roll pan and sprinkle it with bread flour.
In goes the batter, and then straight to the oven. My two daughters oversee the chemistry. The buzzer rings and the peanut butter aroma fills up our lonely condo. I discover a problem: there is no powdered sugar for frosting. The perfect substitute is hazelnut chocolate spread and peanut butter swirled together. Both girls stand on their wooden stools to observe.
The first words come from Franny. “Can we have a piece?” I have to contemplate this question with fifteen minutes before their daddy arrives home to eat dinner, which the girls haven’t eaten yet.
“Will you cut us each a piece, pleeeeease?” Gertie pleads.
“Alright, we’ll have a sample piece.” I cut inch-by-inch pieces.
“Do you like it?”
“Mmm Hmm.”
And I hope the rest of our move will be this good. My husband and I work hard to have positive outlooks during our PCS in order for our children to genuinely see moving as a good thing. I figure out ways to use the ingredients at hand and make a cake with my children to enjoy a military family milestone. My girls constantly remind me that loving life is really the most important ingredient.
Do you have a PCS tradition you'd like to share? Leave a comment below.
