My husband would call our parenting style safety-conscious. I would describe it as risk-averse. How did we drive our children through pea soup fog on the freeway, get blown off our lane by gale-force winds, and insistently go on holiday despite a warning not to travel unless it was necessary? It probably has to do with my aversion to grocery shopping.
Maybe the trip was destined from the beginning. My parents invited my family and my brother’s family to celebrate my father’s 75th anniversary with them. My brother checked the weather forecast a week before our arrival and decided to cancel his golf game. We decided to go ahead. What could be worse?
We ate everything in the house to prevent things from spoiling in our absence. We packed everything in the car. We were not optimistic about the forecast but hoped to beat it. It was windy, but not too bad. My parents called, whose optimism my husband often describes as “optimistic up to the point that it’s insane.” They suggested we stay home. It should have stopped us, but I couldn’t face packing the car and getting groceries. Later, I learned that the State Emergency Service had issued a warning to “reconsider travel not essential.”
Our car was swerving in and out of lanes as we drove through dense grey clouds. The strong wind gusts made it impossible for us to move our car. We pulled off the freeway in terror, as we could not see beyond the car park where we were, and the wind was still shaking our car. We debated whether or not to move forward and how we could get our family down the escarpment.
I finally called my father, who had a pilot’s license and was very familiar with weather statistics. Together, we decided that we were likely to drop below the cloud bank if we continued. We changed drivers and drove as carefully as possible. We finally arrived after the fog cleared and the wind ceased to affect our ability to go straight.
During our visit, we experienced torrential downpours. We rarely left the house because of flooding. In a picture, both grandparents are holding umbrellas in front of our children as they play on a playground. It may even have been the highlight of the trip. Visits to Bakers Delight or a Chinese takeaway meal are also contenders. One afternoon, we went to the sodden beaches and enjoyed the beauty of nature. But after three minutes, the umbrellas were turned inside out, and my daughter’s gumboots became soaked with water. We fled.
Sleeping was impossible due to the unpredictable weather. Sleeping was impossible due to the restless children. After midnight, on the last night, our daughter was found sleeping in her vomit. It was a scene right out of Jimi Hendrix’s final days. We all developed gastro within days.
We were so shocked that we drove back to our house on a sunny, bright day four days after leaving. We vowed never to go anywhere again.
