Kid Visits
When your family lives apart, not everyone has to visit each time. Our youngest son, Ben (13), takes his first solo flight to visit his dad.
The New Nuclear
When we first started this blog about our long distance family (LDF), I envisioned the posts being mostly written by me, but with excerpts from Dennis. It may be the Gen X in me, but I pictured the old Pop-Up videos from VH-1. If you’re unfamiliar with them, the music video would play, and little bubbles of trivia about the video, song, or musician, would pop up throughout providing snippets of commentary.
What ended up happening is that Dennis got the site up and running taking care of all the behind-the-scenes technical stuff, created some really cool art for us, and suddenly became so incredibly busy with work that I’ve been pretty much on my own ever since. Plus, I couldn’t figure out how to effectively insert the pop ups on the page.
Then, I received feedback that the readers want to see a day in the life of Dennis! Let me break that down a bit, though.
A day in the life of Dennis
Dennis wakes up ridiculously early, hits the elliptical for a bit, commutes about five minutes, works about ten hours, then drives the five minutes back home. He eats lunch at his desk and he calls me, if there’s time. His evenings are spent creating a lovely salad or other vegan dinner (we’ll circle back to that), he catches up on Facebook and we talk two or three more times before he goes to bed. Ridiculously early.
Weekends bring promises of getting out and exploring, maybe trying a new restaurant or even just taking a drive. But that’s prime time for laundry, dry cleaning, grocery shopping, binge watching shows, catching up on work, catching up on Facebook, and catching up on sleep. And talking to us several times a day. I’ll usually save a list of any technical questions about the site for his weekends.
So, when Ben, our 13 year old, announced that he wanted to take a trip by himself to visit his dad, we knew this would be the perfect time for a post about a day in his life! Having Ben there would force Dennis to get out and have an adventure.
Quick timeout while I explain the veganism
Dennis has always wanted to try a vegan diet. We haven’t always been the healthiest of eaters, and even when we’ve tried (you know, at that age when your metabolism comes to a screeching halt?), we’ve still managed a “junk food night” that realistically turned into a “junk food weekend with leftovers for the week.” Not only were the pounds trending upward, but so was the blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides… You get the idea. So trying a vegan diet was a healthy way to bring all those numbers down, with the bonus of being better for the environment.
But how does one who loves grilled steak, burgers and brats, bologna with American cheese sandwiches, ice cream, and cookies cut all that out with two teenage boys in the house? You try it when you’re living alone and only shopping and cooking for yourself.
He bought himself an Instant Pot to perfect various types of beans and tasty rice (very quickly, because these things cook food fast!), and hasn’t looked back. Until he’s home, or on a trip with us, or so far while Ben was there. We are a terrible influence on him and the temptation is just too much. Everyone has their vices, I guess. And his numbers are lower than they were before, so it’s still a win.
Okay, back to Ben
We already had a trip to Florida coming up for one of Jack’s taekwondo tournaments. So we decided that Ben would fly on his own (first solo trip!) to see Dennis. He’d spend a few days there, and they’d both drive down to meet us in Ft. Lauderdale. The four of us would attend the tournament, and then Ben would fly back with Jack and me while Dennis drove back to DC.
And that’s essentially how the trip went. But let’s focus on Ben’s time with Dennis.
As I mentioned, this was Ben’s first time flying alone. He’s 13, and by the time Jack was 13 (he’s now 16), he had flown on his own with his taekwondo demonstration team, and shortly after, had started flying by himself. But Jack pays attention when we travel, and has always been much more independent. Ben is, what I like to call, a Nervous Nellie. He’s very concerned with how long things will take, and what our next steps will be, and what do we do if… and rattles off all the worst-case scenarios. He says he’s paying attention, but I can never be too sure.
The flight
I tried to go over the plan with Ben enough times that I wasn’t being too overbearing. I printed out a detailed itinerary for him and had him review it before tucking it safely into his backpack. Once at the airport, Jack and I walked him all the way to the departure gate. This was when I realized that a gate pass may get you through Security, but doesn’t care about your TSA Pre-check.
Ben ate at Einstein Bros Bagels (another first for him, and he loved it!) and we discussed which seat he would choose (window, natch). We waited for him to board, then had to leave to get Jack to a sparring scrimmage, so I didn’t get the chance to see the plane leave. That actually became a source of worry for me, as I’m getting multiple texts from the runway about how they hadn’t taken off yet. Even Dennis was texting me as he kept seeing the flight was being delayed later and later! Talk about high blood pressure!
As it turns out, there were storms across the Midwest (inconceivable, I know) and several planes were already lined up and waiting to take off. Ben seemed to take it well, as just part of the adventure, so I was happy for that!
Dennis met him at his gate at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC, so that he didn’t have to navigate the enormous airport and tram on his own. They picked up the luggage, and made it to the apartment safely. Whew!
Bachelor Life
Dennis’s roommate was out of town during this time, so he and Ben had the apartment all to themselves. They spent their first day together exploring, cheating on the vegan diet, then relaxing and binge-watching Legion.
On Friday, they checked out the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. It’s a companion facility to the space museum on the National Mall and it’s FREE! They got to see a Concorde plane, a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and the Discovery space shuttle.
Saturday they drove into Annapolis to meet a friend for a Maryland style breakfast (think lots of crab) at one of our favorite places to eat, Chick and Ruth’s Deli. Then, they walked around downtown and on the waterfront for a bit before calling it a day due to the heat and humidity.
They spent the rest of the day preparing for the road trip to meet Jack and me in Florida for a taekwondo tournament. It would be another 15 hour drive, but this time, they were stopping in Savannah, Georgia for a night to break up the trip.
While they were able to see some interesting and new sights, I’m just glad they were able to have a week of one on one time together. They bonded over Legion, music (Dennis introduced him to the Misfits) and tasty food made of meat and meat by-products. I couldn’t wait to see both of them in Ft. Lauderdale! This would be the last time we’d see Dennis before starting the longest stretch of time we’ll go without seeing him.
Did we all end up making it to Florida? Did Jack make weight in time for his fight? How did he do at the tournament? Find out next week 😉
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I just love your family! Being a military family and being apart for long times I understand how important it is to keep in touch and enjoy the time you have together. One thing you brought to my attention is the fact that military families are not the only ones that are apart. I love seeing the pictures you post and reading how you are keeping it all together, especially with two teenage boys! Can’t wait to read/see the next post.
Thanks!! We love your family, too! And you know I don’t always keep it together, but the boys help keep us going!
Dennis needs to blog when he’s on his long trip😉
He says he will become an influencer with pictures in first class wearing his new Ross Dress for Less shirt!
Looks like a great visit! Way to go Ben on your first solo trip!!
It was! And he made if off the plane with his headphones and everything!
WOW!😀
Love the pictures and hearing more about how you are juggling your new family life!! Way to go Ben for traveling solo for the first time!! Looks like an amazing trip!
Thank you! Juggling is a great way to put it! It was a great trip, but Ben is definitely happy to be home for a bit 🙂