Wednesday, September 21, 2011

A Beach of a Trip!

This post will for the most part be incredibly boring to most. However, this blog has become something like a journal for me, so I want to record this story to laugh over in years to come.

Overall, our trip to the beach last month was just what the doctor ordered! A week of doing nothing but laying on the beach, getting a tan, reading so many good books ( Mud Bound, Choosing to See, and A Life Stolen), soaking in the ocean, for as long has my nausea/motion sickness would allow, was a pure piece of heaven. However, the trip getting there, was a taste of... well... definitely not Heaven! And really, that is what this post will be about - the trip driving to the beach. The time at the beach was so blissfully uneventful, I won't bore you with the details.

Marriage brings two families, from completely different habits, traditions, thought patterns, and emotional structure together... trust me, this isn't a rabbit's trail - it really does relate to the story. Jared and I have been extremely blessed to be from two families whose core values are based on the same truths, morals, and beliefs. And while our families are completely different in day to day life, they are both HUGE blessings in our life, and we feel so fortunate that we can take the good things we learned from both family sets, and combine them to create our own family style. There are, however, definitely differences in our two families.
- My family is loud, boisterous, active.
- Jared's family is quiet and reserved
- With three brothers in the house (and a youngest sister who thought for the first 5 years of her life she was just like her brothers), and everyone( with the exception of myself) being competitive athletes, there are balls bouncing, games played, wrestling matches on going - constantly. And yes, most of that can take place inside, and at times all at the same time. :)
- In Jared's family, he is the only boy, followed by two sisters - rough housing is not a part of their home life.
- My family isn't big on traditions - competitive sports have a way of playing havoc with traditions, especially Holiday traditions.
- Jared's family celebrates traditions.
- Physical aggression (in fun/love) is a love language in our house. The Elliott siblings have never fought, physically, in anger. We have only done it out of fun and enjoyment of each other's company - as crazy as that may sound to most. :) Of course, there are 1 or 2 the siblings who didn't always handle this type of interaction as well as the rest of us, and tears were the eventual/occasional outcome.
- Physical aggression is not understood in Jared's. I remember the look of horror on my then future mother-in-laws face the first time she saw me playfully slap Jared, and kick his knees out from under him, after he made some snarky comment. Ha ha!:)
- my family plays every sport in the book, and has played competitive basketball on all levels.
- Jared's family enjoys watching some UT VO.L sports, but never were competitive athletes (Side note:Hubs will get mad at me if I don't clarify here. He loves to play sports, but poor buddy got all his height - 6'5" by the time he was 13, so you can imagine the awkwardness. His coordination didn't come until college, when, as he likes to tell it, he dominated intramurals! ha ha)
- My family gets upset at the losses of any team they participate in (as a coach or player), especially if their personal performance was subpar, but we get over it pretty quickly.
- Jared's family goes into mourning when the VO.Ls lose (as does ALL of Knoxville - ugh!) and the woes are rehashed daily, until the next loss, or victory.

- I have loved getting to be a setting where the female members out number the male members.
- Jared loves getting to be around my family, where he plays with the brothers he never had.


Despite those differences, we all get along very well. One other major difference in our families is our travel style.

My family is plagued with horrific motion sickness. We also aren't "the hike's the thing" type family. We are more about getting to the final destination. The faster you get there, the better everyone feels/will be.

Jared's family has a special needs sibling's needs to consider. The middle sister, Sara, has Down's Syndrome. And, they are very much "the hike's the thing" type family. They will get to the destination eventually.


During our previous trips to the beach with Jared's family, I just take a regular strength dram.amine, sleep the majority of the trip, and deal with moderate nausea and drowsiness (his family's frequent stops and my car sickness are not good combinations!) We take two cars, but still travel together. However, with this pregnancy, the drugs option was out. My doctors are all very conservative, and beg as I did, they wouldn't give me any p.henergan or z.ofran. :(

We left around 7 am. Our first stop came less then an hour and a half into the trip - a rest area where we always stop when we travel that direction. Preggo, was not happy with this stop, as I had just fallen asleep. But I went ahead and took advantage of the bathroom, as my biggest fear was my pregnant state/bladder causing us an additional stop somewhere on this trip.

We hit the road again, only to stop another 1.5 hour later. My attitude is greatly starting to take a nose dive at this point, so I stay in the car and try and think  about anything that doesn't involved food, vomit, or motion of any kind.

We stopped for lunch around 11 am, at Wendy's. I am not a big fast-food person, and meat and I have not gotten along so well during the pregnancy, so they were kind enough to chose a quick place to eat, where I could get a baked potato.  I was ridiculously nauseous at this point, and not ready to eat, but knew I would hungry within the hour, so I went ahead and picked at my potato. I felt slightly better after just being out of the car for 30-45 minutes. Back into the car we go, and I assume for a good long stretch. This is when it all goes down hill.

We stop less than an hour later for another bathroom stop, again right as I have fallen asleep. I am not proud of the way I acted as we pulled into another South Carolina rest area. I was so nauseous, drowsy and mad, I don't even remember any exact words. I only remember snapping at my husband, and he and my sister-in-law, who was riding with us, silently exiting the car as quickly as they could. I made the stupid decision to stay in the car, and stew... in the South Carolinian heat - genius move on my part!

I am not sure if it was my anger, the heat, or the prematurely eaten lunch that was the culprit... probably all of it. But, all of sudden I was hit with the all too familiar wave of nausea, that I knew was not  going to stay down. Had I controlled my thoughts and emotions better, I would have been smart and just hurled all over the ground in front of our car, but it was blazing hot and humid, and right on the side of the interstate. The rest area, in my obviously "sane" state seemed to be crawling with people. The thought of puking in front of them all was too much, especially because I always  freaking cry when I vomit. Throwing up and crying in public happen to be two of my least favorite pass times.

I bolted out of the car, slammed the car door with way more force then necessary, and about barrel over my father-in-law and husband, who could tell by the look of my face all was not well! When they asked where I was going/how I was, I, like a brat, shouted over my shoulder, "To throw up everywhere, where do you think!?!"

Things are a little blurry at this point. I remember getting inside the women's bathroom. I remember the stifling heat that smacked me in the face and feeling like I was going to suffocate. I vaguely remember seeing my MIL and SIL standing with some other women, and I am sure all of them were in line. I remember seeing the first stall in the line open up, and rushing by everyone into the stall and slamming the door behind me. I remember that place smelled straight up like butt and overflowing sanitary trashcans. What transpired in that stall is luckily blurred as well. I have no idea how long I was in there. It could have been 10-45 minutes for all I know. I lost everything in my stomach, and then some. I was shaking like a leaf. Boo-hooing like an irrational 5 year old. The shaking got so bad, at one point I was on my hands and knees hugging the toilet in a public restroom. Once the puking and dry heaves stopped, the intestinal cramps began. You beyond get the picture at this point.

I finally pulled myself somewhat back together, I exited the stall, splashed some water on my face, and tried to make myself look semi-human again. That was a mere impossibility at this point. My sister-in-law was sent in to check on, and make sure I hadn't passed out and hit my head. :)

The looks on my "in-lawed family's" faces when I finally exited the bathroom were something to behold. Sort a blend of pity, anxiety, fear, and definite uncertainty.

I have been told I have expressive eyes. However, I am usually pretty darn good at veiling true emotion or reactions.... when I am not about to spew my cookies in front of the world. I have no doubt if looks could kill, I would have left a trail a dead in-laws, and possibly a husband, in my wake on my trip to the bathroom. Oops! I guess its a good thing the first child/grandchild is housed, nourished, protected, and maintained in my uterus. That gave me a little bit of leniency. That, and thank goodness, they love me!

No one really said a word. I think they were too scared that the exorcist might reappear. I was shaking like a leaf, dizzy, and mortified. We all just piled into the cars and took off again....

.... and I am 90% sure that was our last stop before...

This Blissdom:)

And after writing all that, I am completely exhausted just reliving that moment... the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. So instead of details, I will leave you with just a few pics.


 The Ross Siblings: Jared, Sara, and Brenna

 Brenna is sooo ready to be an aunt! Sara on the other hand, still isn't too sure about all this:)

Walks on the beach at night are my favs



The next two demonstrate the GROWTH spurt Ellie (and I) went through that week.


 Beach Day 2

End of the week (sans make-up, please excuse!)


Yes, I wore a sweat shirt several nights... at the beach... in South Carolina... at the end of August! Told ya the weather could not have been more perfect!:)

PS: I did take pictures of my mother and father-in-law... but the only ones on my camera were of them on the beach in the swim suits... and I am pretty sure my MIL would kill me if she ever found out I posted them on the web for the whole world to see:)

1 comment:

  1. Okay, first off, I DIED laughing at your story. If looks could kill indeed. I think that's about the look my husband got when he suggested I'd "feel better if I got out" (in the midst of my awful m/s), which just turned into me puking at the grocery store, the fast food restaurant, the gas station... ya. No bueno.

    Your little belly is so cute!

    Also, my husband and I have the same issues/blessings...same core values, but SUCH different family/parenting styles. I'm a little nervous about how we'll compromise to raise this kiddo!

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