An Open Letter to My Mom After Our Vacation

Dear Mama Llama,

You'll have to excuse my opening cliché, but life is short, you know? And I'm starting to realize that more and more as I get older. I know growing up I was so excited to get out of Orrville and explore the world and never look back, and I was happy to do that for 10 years. But a time came when I realized how fast life spins on and how much I was missing by being so far away. All the kids were growing, and I kept missing birthdays and Christmases, and everyone else kept getting older, so it only made sense for me to move closer to home and try to be more involved.

Moving closer to home has allowed us to spend so much more time together, which is something I've been meaning to do ever since I left. You've always been my best friend and a pretty cool lady, but we keep getting older and not seeing each other enough. I think it was when Grandma died last year that I really realized that I should spend all the time I can with you and be nice. You know I can be a brat, but I'm trying to be nicer and more patient.

It only made sense for us to do a mini road trip, because what better way to get close to someone than to travel together? I thought it would be so fun for us to rent a convertible for our trip, which is why I went with the Buick Cascada, in red no less. It's nothing like any of the cars we've ever had, so I thought it would be fun and exciting — and it was! The car even had 4G LTE WiFi, which is practically unheard of in any vehicle we ever had. Streaming music straight from my phone? Beautiful.

I'm a bit sorry for how crazy I got when I couldn't figure out how to put the top down, even though it was super simple and goes down in the blink of an eye (or something like 17 seconds), and how equally crazy I got when I couldn't make the trunk open and had to make you hold your stuff for 100 miles. But you know what one of my favorite things about you is? You put up with me. You deal with my attitude with unfailing grace and tell me when I'm being unreasonable (which is often, I know), and you just keep on loving me unconditionally.

This road trip meant a lot to me, despite the fact that I probably didn't verbalize it while we were on the road. Dad and I have done so many of these, which I also treasure, but this was a first for us, and I'm glad we got to share it. I'm glad the two of us were able to kick back in our sick ride with the top down (once I figured it out the fancy system) and just chat as not just mom and daughter but as girls.

You and I both know how much I love driving, but I generally just get caught up in the mission of getting from point A to point B, but our trip from New York to Ohio gave me the chance to slow everything down and focus on the little moments rather than the big picture. I got to share my love of Sonic with you and you filled me in on anything I've missed back home, and it was fun. It was so fun.

I'm glad we did this, Mama Llama. Even though you don't love riding in cars, I like to think I made it somewhat enjoyable for you. And I'm sure cruising around in the brand-new convertible didn't hurt. Let's do it again soon, sometime, shall we?

Love,
Your favorite kid

A 2017 Buick Cascada was provided by Buick for the purpose of writing this post.