everybody has a job…

on a road trip.  in our car, the assignments were as follows:

Elli had the most responsibilities as my assistant in the front seat with me. 

	her top priority was to keep the music going non-stop- and as loud as i would allow.    and if i requested she stop at a song or station that she disagreed with, this is the look she would give me.  [“you KNOW this song, mom?”] we listened to the same CD the entire drive home from arizona:  a special mix that my brother pepper made for elli.  no exaggeration.
	it was also her responsibility to inform everyone in her contact list of our whereabouts at all times [and what stupid music i was choosing to listen to.]
	and, of course, it was definitely her responsibility to represent our family out in public.  this is how i found her most of the 24 hour ride home:  admiring and beautifying herself in the mirror.  seriously- who needs mascara and lipgloss to go inside maverick?
	directly behind my seat was nolan.  his responsibilities were two-fold: first, to remind me how tragic this vacation was without damon; and, second, to ask “how much longer until we get home to dad?” oh- and maybe to push his feet up against the back of my seat every 10 minutes or so.
	next to nolan sat savannah.  she was the repeater of everything that everyone else said.  she also kept us on track for when it was time to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
	behind savannah was emma.  emma’s job was to make sure nobody touched or injured her american girl dolls that were buckled in the vacant seat next to her.  she also took on the extra responsibility of complaining about cleaning up the tornado in the back seat every time we stopped.
	next to emma’s american girl dolls was ray.  he was in charge of making messes for emma to complain about cleaning up.  he was also in charge of eating all 8 of his lik-m-aids and 3 ring pops within the first hour or two of our trip.
	finally, there was me:  the driver.  my top priority was keeping my hand inside a bag of junk food at all times to keep me awake. junk foods of choice:  chewy sweetarts, black licorice, fruity tootsie rolls, and chocolate turtle chex mix. another important job i had was keeping my right finger on the VOLUME DOWN button on my steering wheel.  turning the volume down on the console would cause too much drama.  i had to be discreet about it and slyly turn it down on the steering wheel one notch at a time.

the one job that nobody seemed to take on was putting their garbage in the trash bags i provided.  i was baffled [and maybe a little enraged] at every single stop that with 3 garbage bags conveniently located in each row of seating, nobody seemed to stretch that extra inch or two to throw their garbage in the appropriate spot.  seriously, how hard can it be?   so frustrating. 

so happy to be back home.  we were even blessed with sweet rainfall today.  :)

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