Rainbows and Butterflies. And traffic.

Greg and I share a secret language, which I’m about to share with you.

Code words “rainbows and butterflies” in a text is short for:

Oh-my-f*cking-goodness-I’m-going-to-throw-myself-over-this-overpass-if-the-traffic-doesn’t-let-up-NOW!!!

And since I’m quasi-driving during the time of this text, you can see why “rainbows and butterflies” is just that much simpler for expressing my frustration. (Confession: when I’m really pissed I’ll even through in the word “bunny rabbit”.)

During my drive to work this morning (which takes longer than forever), I realized that playing chain gang with about 900 other drivers has its advantages. Not only does it provide me with an opportunity to re-affirm my appreciation for the gentler side of life (those rainbows and butterflies), it’s actually a great time to solve problems.

For example, this morning I figured out what to do for my two youngest kids’ birthdays.

Samantha and Jonathan both move up a notch in the hormonal hell that is teenage-dom this month. Samantha turns 13 this week (happy birthday, sweetie!) and Jonathan turns 14 in less than two weeks (*gulp*).

I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure out what they want for their birthdays and coming up empty minded.

Then this morning it hit me!

They have everything I can’t afford, don’t need anything I can, so why not create a memory?

I’m talking about a weekend getaway, just the three of us.

13 and 14 means that this may just be the last summer that they want anything to do with me so I should really do this now!

Clearly I’m a genius.

Now I just need to figure out where to take them, which will be the issue at hand for tomorrow’s journey down the highway of rainbows and butterflies.

Stay tuned . . .

PS. If you have any suggestions for great weekend getaway locations within a few hour’s drive of Montreal, let me know!