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Where is it written that shortly
after a woman says the words, “I do” she becomes the vacation
clothing packer? Like most modern husbands, mine is wonderful in
that he helps around the house and is truly involved with raising
our children. But somehow, when it comes to packing for vacations,
we are no different then the typical 1950’s household. His part of
packing comes down to tossing the bags into the trunk and asking if
I packed extra socks for him. (That little question doesn’t get me
nearly as much as the follow-up on-site question of, “Honey, where’d
you put my socks?” Gee, does it really take that long to search
every square inch of a 2 by 3 foot suitcase or, for that matter, the
whole 10 by 12 foot room we’re in?)
Sure, it makes sense that if there’s just one suitcase for the two
of us, why shouldn’t I pack both of us?! However, he does manage to
dress himself every day so technically he is capable of at least
laying out all of his clothes he plans to wear for the whole trip,
including extra socks. Then all I’d have to do is cram both our
clothes in the one bag. “Cram” being the operative word. The vision
of men literally “cramming” clothes in a bag is what keeps women
across the globe handling the packing task for every family trip. It
makes me wonder if it wasn’t a frustrated wife that created that new
spray-on product that takes out wrinkles. It’s got to come in travel
size, right?
Honestly, this wouldn’t be such an issue for me if it were just the
two of us traveling. But now we’ve got kids, could we split the
task? I’ll handle their clothes and buy the anti-wrinkle spray if he
packs our clothes. Or, how about splitting the whole thing? I’ll
pack everything we take if he unpacks everything we bring back.
Sure, there are many that would argue, “Oh but he carries the
suitcases to and from the car!” Please, I could use the exercise and
would be happy to do it if it means less stress.
Perhaps I should take joy in all the packing duties by reminding
myself that it won’t be long before our children will be able to
pack for themselves and sadly, not too much longer after that,
they’ll be packing for trips without us. Not to mention, if I
squeezed a stapler into our bags I could have some serious fun
playing, “Where did I put your socks? Have you checked the ceiling?”
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