Volume 2: What is All This Stuff?!
Because no one tells you how much 'stuff' comes with being a parent
One backpack.
That’s what I spent the majority of my adult life traveling with.
And it was usually packed thusly: a toiletry bag, a book, sunglasses, and n+2 of t-shirts, underwear, and, socks, with “n” being the number of days I’d be gone.
For rock and roll tours that would sometimes stretch into the vicinity of months, it was one duffel bag. There, “n” equalled one week. Nine shirts, nine pairs of socks, nine underwear. And maybe two books.
But now, with two kids? Forgetaboutit.
Here’s a list of everything Emily and I packed for a three-day weekend in the mountains of South Carolina so that I could go and ride my bike in the Gran Fondo Hincapie:
One Pack ‘n Play travel crib
Three noise machines (funny, considering we all sleep in the same room)
One BabyBjorn bouncy chair (which is the one thing I recommend ALL new parents buy. Our son napped in this chair until he was so big, his head spilled over the top and he had to fold his hands behind it to hold it up).
One dozen eggs
Two loaves of bread
Three boxes of granola bars
One box of “skateboard bars” (some kind of Z Bar with a skater on the package)
Two bags of Gummy Bears
Two bags of Swedish Fish
One case of “Special Seltzer” for our son (orange flavored San Pellegrino. Dude’s addicted but he only gets one per day).
Three cases of Spindrift seltzer (Lemon flavored. Dad’s addicted and no one can stop him from drinking eight-to-twelve per day)
One cooler filled with thirty Matchbox cars
One Matchbox Stunt Garage so the thirty cars might have a place to party
One bag of n+5 daytime onesies for baby girl
One bag of n+2 nighttime onesies and two sleep sacks for baby girl
One bag of n+3 clothes for son
One box full of dozens of diapers in both sizes for both kids
Three pairs of sneakers and one pair of boots for our son
Two packs of wipes
One luggage for mom
One duffel bag of dad’s normal clothes (n+2)
One duffel bag of dad’s cycling stuff (kits, helmets, shoes, gloves, etc)
One bag full of dad’s cycling nutrition stuff (gels, Honey Stingers, water bottles, and yes, more Gummy Bears)
One little rubber pad should we need to change baby girl in the bed of our truck
One stroller for baby girl
One jogging stroller for son
One backpack full of miscellany (car chargers, sunglasses, facemasks, and at least two renegade Matchbox cars)
One laptop bag with three computers (dad’s, mom’s work, mom’s personal)
One bike pump
One tackle box (dad’s portable bike shop)
Two bikes
And after all of this stuff was packed, taking up every square inch of our the bed of our truck, Emily and I looked at each other and said, “Not too bad, this time.”
Volume 2: What is All This Stuff?!
Halloween weekend we packed my car so full of shit to go camping I thought I was moving again.