Holbrook, AZ

The second day of our roadtrip is over. We made the 500+ miles from Barstow, California to Holbrook, Arizona in roughly seven hours. Luckily, when you're on the road with the two people who mean the most to you in this world, it doesn't seem that long. Not that me leg didn't go numb, my sciatic nerve went psycho, and my nerves were a little fried by the time we rolled through Meteor City, but as I sit here now with my daughter fast asleep in her travel crib on my right and my husband fading fast on my left, I can't help but feel content. If a man, a woman and a 10-month-old can make it across this country in a U-Haul cab, there's nothing they can't do together. Trust me. It's a little intense.

We chose to make this trip together, rather than letting the Navy move us for one reason: we love eachother. And we want to spend as much time together as possible. Without the eight days Lucas was given as leave to relocate his family, we wouldn't have this time together. It's borrowed time, time that will count against him and that he will have to make up in the months to come. But it's worth it, I'd say. It's bringing us back together after the time he spent at basic training and helping us re-establish our family together.

Since Lily was born, we really haven't had alot of time together. One of us was always working so the other could be home with the baby. There is nothing that bothers me quite like the idea of giving birth to a baby and then handing her over to a care giver that isn't myself, my husband, or an immediate family member. We chose to have a baby so that we could be parents, not so that we could squeeze her into our hectic work schedules with the hope that we could make it up to her someday. I understand that there are millions of families that do not have the same luxury; day care is the only way to make ends meet. But I'm thankfull that we were able to live as we did, even though as husband and wife, our lives together were distant. I would wake him up when I left in the morning and stare at the TV with him for an hour once I got home that night. The kind of schedules we had to cope with while one of us was working was not conducive to a loving, stable marriage. I thank God every day that our lives have changed as they have, when they did.

So, back to the present. Traveling with a baby isn't so bad. Nothing is all that terrible as long as I have Lucas by my side. We left our home state, California, at exactly 11:35 a.m. this morning, leaving behind the only place that we had ever known. The Bay Area and Sierra Mountains were ingrained in our DNA from birth; the cold foggy mornings, the gentle breeze stirred by the ocean, the fat tailed squirrels and tiny brown ants. This is all we have ever known. Every significant member of our family lives within 100 miles of San Francisco, and help was never more than a phone call away. If the baby was sick or we wanted to sneak off to the movies for a date night, there was always a grandmother more than willing to watch our daughter. Now it's time for us to be a family apart, an independently functioning unit. I'm ready. I have been from the start.

As we barrel down Highway 40, chugging up steep grades and gliding down smooth off ramps, I look over my daughter to my husband and see his smile. Saying that I adore him is putting it mildly. We started a life long love affair when we 18 years old, and I can't wait until we are able to celebrate half a century together, with our children and grandchildren all around us. We are fitting our lives together in a way that is so intimate that even God himself will have trouble telling us apart when we are done.

Everyone is asleep now except for me. It's time for me to hit the sheets. I have to drive because it's the only way that I don't get sick, especially if I had to keep Lily entertained and fed and happy, all of which involve taking my eyes off the road. I will tolerate almost anything to avoid puking, and that includes driving until my ankle turns blue and my hip feels like it's going to pop out of it's socket. I'm nuerotic, I know. But it works somehow!

We're heading into New Mexico tomorrow. Come back to read more about the heat and desert and adventures of the Peterson family.