Post-Vacation Psychosis.

This weekend we returned from a week-long family vacation. In the car. With our 6 year old. With no DVD player to quiet him on the long trip. Needless to say, I'm stressed. If any of my friends asks what it is like to drive 1000 miles with a young child in the car, I'd say pack sleeping pills. Not for the little one, but for you. Here's how our vacation went.

Day 1: We left for the big push to get to our destination in Oklahoma. We wanted to get there before dark, so we drove three hour stretches before taking a break. Since it was early in our vacation, we all had the energy for the long stretches of road. Not 80 miles out of Austin came the "Are we there yet" for the next 100 miles. Then came, "Are we still in Texas?". By then I was ready to stop at the first Walmart and buy that damned DVD player. We arrived at our destination right before sunset, and checked into our hotel.

Day 2: After a painful night of having little 6 year old feet poke me every 30 minutes into wakefulness, I approached our second day of vacation a little more weary. Our original plan of visiting a submarine memorial was delayed since my dear husband forgot to tell me that the museum was only open Wednesday through Saturday. So our schedule had to shift a little. We spent the whole day at the lake enjoying the waves and sun.

Day 3: Submarine museum time!!! Actually just for the guys; I'm horribly claustrophobic and the idea of stuffing myself into a big metal tube is just not my idea of fun. I collected pinecones instead and sat in the shade of some huge trees. Not a bad way to spend a few hours of my day.

Day 4: Back to the road...our stops were more frequent since none of us had the endurance to stay in the car for more than a few minutes. For some reason we stopped at every gas station and pigged out on junk food. Maybe it was just our way of dealing with stress. We arrived back in Dallas and spent some time with my sister, who just happened to be there on that day.

Day 5: Back at home, finally. That is if you call an early-morning arrival an extra day of vacation. I'm so short on sleep since the little one had to sleep with me, that I asked Daddy to give me a little extra time to sleep. It is hard to sleep with the sounds of Spongebob coming through the wall.

I thought I caught up on some lost sleep...right. That theory blew sky high today when I met my best friend and her son at McD's for lunch. The phrase I wanted to say all week finally popped out of my otherwise motherly mouth aimed straight for my 6 year old..."Shut your mouth, now!" I spent the rest of my Sunday trying to undo the awful thing I said. I did realize one thing, though.

We are all human. One more for the "yes, I really lost it." column.