Maiden Voyage

U.E.A./Fall break for us folk in Utah was the perfect excuse to get out of Dodge and head to Phoenix. It was a "Maiden Voyage" of sorts. As in, for the first time on a family voyage, I was the only 'maiden.'

The dictionary defines 'maiden' as a girl or young unmarried woman (among other things). For the sake of this particular post, I'm going with the "girl" definition.

I have sailed to Phoenix many times but always on a sea of estrogen. Always I was accompanied by girlfriends or sisters or daughters. On this trip my companions were all of the male variety. My husband and two sons. I knew it would be different. I worried I would hold the boys back or interrupt the 'guy' flow. And how, I wondered, would I hold my own as the only shopper in the group?! As it turns out, my concerns were in vain. But I was right about one thing...It was different.

The trip started off in the fast lane-literally. Because there were only four passengers Jordan was able to drive his car. People ask me if I'm nervous to drive with Jordan. I'm not. If it were anyone else, I would be white knuckled and sick to my stomach. But when Jordan is behind the wheel, I relax. This trip was no exception -aside from two occasions...

Once when we came upon another car with a driver who was taking advantage of the long stretches of open road and his twin turbos. When the two drivers locked eyes it was like a scene out of "The Transporter." Only we didn't have stunt doubles. When the other driver turned off to get gas, and my husband once again became aware of his true age and the 3 other passengers in the car, I was noticeably warmer than I had been previously and where I had been dozing off moments before, I was now wide awake. Strangely, there was no discussion about the incident other than this: uncomfortable occasion #2: Jordan twists around to glance at our 16 year old son and, after making sure that Christian is listening, admonishes him about the perils of driving too fast. "Never, never drive this fast," Jordan tells him.

Huh?

Now I'm white knuckled and sick to my stomach.

Upon our (safe) arrival at our destination, I made this declaration:

"We are going shopping."

"We will be going to these three stores: 1. Last Chance 2. My Sister's Closet and 3. H&M"

After a few (obligatory) whimpers those 3 adorable boys headed out into the blazing Phoenix heat and discovered that aside from some great bargains there was also a fabulous thing called "air-conditioning" in each of those stores. At the end of the day the back of the car was loaded with sacks filled with our treasures. And only two little sacks were mine. The boys put their sisters to shame in the shopping department.

But any similarities to their sisters would definitely end there.

Like when it came time for lunch. I suggested a quaint little diner I visited when I had been in Phoenix previously with friends. I had been thinking about the veggie sandwich and cupcake ever since. Oddly, my little diner got one vote and this place received 3....

Maybe it was the less than stellar food choices that led to all the talk about who had gas... Ah..but I digress...

Anyway- I also thought of the different feel of this trip-in comparison to one with daughters-as I took in this series of events as we headed back to our hotel room after dinner one night: We passed by the Fitness Center and the boys ran in. Normally, Jordan wouldn't be caught dead in the Fitness Center, but he made an exception that night to see if he could get the treadmill going fast enough to shoot Gabe off of it. He also tried the scale (obviously no one was in the Fitness Center). When that scale was deemed inaccurate, he tried another. Strangely, that too, was inaccurate. Leaving the Fitness Center Christian noticed the sauna. He encouraged Gabe to step in and check it out-which he did. When he turned to get out, his dad and brother were holding the door closed. Seemingly unscathed and unfazed my boys continued toward the hotel room..jumping up to touch a tree branch here, trying to give a dead arm there.... culminating in Gabe having run ahead so he could be hiding in the elevator when it opened so he could scare the pants off of us.

Different trip-yes. But I never said it wasn't thoroughly entertaining. How could I not be enjoying myself?

There was a lot of this:

..which lead to a lot of sweating. But herein I have a confession: I think sweaty boys are cute. Weird-I know.
I said sweaty boys. Not men.

There was also a good deal of this:

And then there was the football...

..that also did this:

I may have been surrounded by boys on this trip-but those boys were also gentlemen. I don't think I got my door, refilled my drink or loaded a bag into the car once on this trip. I may have been the only maiden but I was treated like a queen. And I loved every minute.