It might be because I read this today, or because I cried at the movie Inside Out to start the summer, or because I am dreading the looming end to this trip. But I have been stopping a lot, looking around and taking little  pictures with my mind (okay, taking real pictures too, who am I kidding) and trying not to let this summer slip away. Trying to hold it close, keep it hidden, make sure that time doesn’t steal it too swiftly. 

This summer will never happen again. We will never take two preschoolers, and an eight month old puppy on a trip across the country. We will never have as much concentrated time together as a family. And we will never take the first trip with our RV again. 

There was an article I read recently that we look upon experiences versus posessions with a greater fondness than any material item could afford us.  The value of the money spent on the experience is greater simply because of the happiness it assures you. This includes experiences where every part of the trip wasn’t exactly perfect. We can trick ourselves to forget the rough moments. The ant problem, the RV repair bill, the middle of the night dog diarrhea, the bathroom flood– all the things that might have made life a little more stressful and difficult. Core memories trump those memories. Period. Even better, the experiences we have will always make us happier than the things we buy. 

I find myself approaching this trip much like I approach parenthood. The mantra, “this may seem tough or tiring, but you will long for this brand of tough and tiring someday.” Taking a cold shower now and then, spending $10 in quarters to do just a couple day’s worth of laundry, stepping in dog poop in the middle of the night and getting lost on windy roads in California are all annoying experiences. They seem stressful. They seem like tests. But, you see, in hindsight, they are just tiny blips on the radar, mere tremors on the Richter scale. The real stuff is the good stuff. And that settles in deep. 

While we bounce from place to place, I wonder how much the kids will actually remember. I hope that we will share some of the same core memories, but even if we don’t, I hope time will slow down in this final month, letting all of us stop and savor each stop, each adventure, each juicy moment. Because we will never experience it in just this way again.