Leave a Comment, Win a PRIZE! Tuesday Tradition #17

With summer fast approaching many of us will be heading out on road trips! Now I don't know about you, but we have 7 people in our family. Road trips and 7 people...I don't even like saying that in the same sentence! My tongue swells up and it's hard to breath...the heart rate tends to spike and....okay, coming back to my happy place....deep breath.

I'm a little scarred right now. We just did a road trip over the weekend. 14 hours of driving in 24 hours, with 7 people (includes 2 teens, 5-year-old BOY, and 1-year-old TWINS), a double stroller, enough luggage for a 4 week evacuation, 2 ice chests, large shopping bag filled with food, diaper bags and other misc. items. My poor husband just gripped the wheel with two hands and slowly breathed in and out...trying to find his own happy place....he looked like he was on the verge of diving to the floorboard and curling up in the fetal position. Road trips are in the same family as Chinese water torture, right?

There was a block of time somewhere in there...not sure if it was on the way there or home, but I truly thought about opening my door and shutting my head in it and banging it endlessly until I would fall into a deep dark black coma....and then slowly find myself running through a meadow of daisy's in a white cotton dress with a cold Diet Coke. So I have fantasies, but not at the right time.

I was at the end of my rope and ready to jump when I remember the Family Chat cards I have shoved into my center console for the past year. What are Family Chat Cards? They're a small deck of MIRACLE! That's what they are! A deck of over 50 cards with questions on the back of them. FUN questions! It sounds too simple I know, but trust me....they did something in that time bomb on wheels that I had never dreamed of. I've had them in my car before and used them for fun with one kid at a time... when the birds were still chirping and everyone was hugging...happy times. But I haven't had to pull out the miracle deck to literally save lives. Because that's what these cards did...they saved about 7 lives!

The questions are all over the place from Seasonal and Holiday Questions, Vacation memories, childhood memories, hopes, dreams, wishes....but here's the funny part. The first question one of my teens pulled asked, "What do you love and enjoy most about your family?" AHHHH! The look on her face was priceless! We just started laughing! The mood lightened up, she asked if she could put that card back and draw another...and I said ABSOLUTELY! I didn't want to hear her answer at that point.

For over 3 hours we picked cards, told stories, laughed....okay, there were a few disagreements and small food fights over certain answers, but in the end we lived! All 7 of us arrived on the front porch.

So a family tradition of survival...and storytelling happened in that car. It wasn't planned, but it was a great memory that our family will remember forever...not sure if it will be treasured by all, but I'm getting a good laugh out of it today. Every family needs this deck of Miracle cards! You want to survive your family road trip? Invest in this deck of cards! Trust me....

So...You want a deck of Family Chat cards? Leave a comment about your worst road trip, or one that you're getting ready to take and you could win a deck of Family Chat cards. I'll pick a winner Monday, May 26. Let's here the stories!