"Can we go the fun way?"

Saturday little McKenna and I were coming home after running a few errands. We had a few bags of groceries in the car and I was tired. As we stopped at the light there on Rd 100 & Chapel Hill, she turned to me and said "can we go the fun way Mom?". There are several ways to get to our house from where we were. I tend to choose the one that is shortest and straightest the most calm and unexciting. The "fun way" I liken to a dirt road roller coaster.

When my Mac asked to go "the fun way" I immediately said the most logical thing imaginable... "no Baby, we have groceries back there, let's just go the normal way". But then I glanced at my sweet little girl (who EXPECTED that very answer from her super boring Mama) and I thought to myself "She is getting so big, how much longer will a simple change in routes be exciting to her?".

So just to emphasize my sudden change of heart I accelerated Big Blue a little more than necessary and barreled on straight through the light instead of turning right like we do for Logical Lane, Reasonable Route, Sensible Street...

Her eyes lit up as we turned onto Fun Way, I sped Ol' Blue up and he rewarded us with his thundering, rumbling, Big Bad @$$, muffler's a mess, engine roar. We came to that steep dirt hill and went tearing down it with no thought of slowing down. I glanced at her again and saw a huge grin as she was defying gravity, nothing but a seatbelt keeping her tethered to earth, her hair looking as if she was in suspended animation. I'm always grateful that Big Blue is made out of a half ton of Detroit steel when we take this way because I swear if it were any other car, we'd flip that sucker coming up the smaller hill on a bit of an angle, my superior driving skills notwithstanding...

We pulled into the driveway and as my little Punkin began to gladly gather up the groceries (canned goods under all the seats, bread up on the dashboard) I decided that I DON'T need to take Logical Lane all the time. What harm is there in going "the fun way"? We still reach our destination! And the joy of a happy, laughing little face far outweighs the inconvenience of catching a head of lettuce as it rolls out the back door!