The Packing Gene: A Blessing or a Curse?

You may not have heard of the packing gene, but I assure you it exists. I have the packing gene and I got it from my father, Ed.

I actually do not know if this characteristic is a blessing or a curse, but we both have it and we have it bad. Neither my mother nor my husband has had to pack a trunk in as many years as either of them has been married. My husband, in an attempt at chivalry, has offered only to be shooed back to the house to make sure that everything that needs to go has been brought out for my viewing. I even load the trunk when we go grocery shopping.

My father truly believes that my mother intentionally waits until he has almost finished loading the trunk to bring down one last large item, causing him to have to unload the whole trunk and start over. The truth is, those of us with the packing gene will willingly pack and re-pack the trunk several times in the quest for the "perfect packing job." Like I said, I haven't decided if it's a blessing or a curse.

Fortunately I get lots of practice at my skill as my parents and my in-laws live in Virginia and we live in New York. As a stay-at-home mom, I have the freedom to road trip with my daughter and my dog as often as I wish to visit with all of the grandparents (my in-laws live about 30 minutes away from my parents-how convenient!). These road trips are like the preliminaries to the trunk-loading Olympics. The Olympics being Christmas, Thanksgiving and any other major holiday where I not only have to pack for myself and the baby, but also my husband. It's especially challenging as the staples of any trip include a large dog crate, a Pack'n'Play portable crib, a stroller and all of the other necessities of traveling with a toddler...oh yeah and clothes. I also feel I should mention that I drive a mid-sized sedan and the back seat cannot be used as one half contains the car seat and the other half contains a German shepherd. It wouldn't be a challenge if I drove a Suburban, now would it? One time I managed to fit a full-sized Radio Flyer wagon in the trunk along with all of this stuff. It was one of my greatest moments.