For the month of March, each day I am writing and posting a slice of my life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers.
Slice of Life #22: Day 31/31
Hello/Goodbye
When my kids were little, each time we crossed a border from one state to another, we would yell goodbye to the state we were leaving and hello to the state we were visiting.
Although my children are now teenagers, I cannot resist our hello/goodbye tradition. As we arrived at the bridge connecting Wisconsin to Minnesota on Monday, I yelled, "Good bye Wisconsin, hello Minnesota!" My son, who was sitting with me in the front seat, briefly looked up from the Nintendo Switch, but my daughter did not look up from her book.
"Come on! Join me!" I pleaded with my kids.
"Don't you remember when we used to do this?" I inquired.
"Yeah," Isaac said, "It was kind of fun. But we were like five."
"Do it with me? Please?" I again pleaded with my kids. It's a good thing that I was concentrating on the road so I could not see my daughter roll her eyes.
"Let's do it once we get to the middle of the bridge. Like old times." Isaac replied and then added, "You have to do it too, Alaina!"
"Fine," said my sulky teenage daughter.
"On the count of three!" I yelled.
"One. Two. Three!"
"Hello Minnesota! Goodbye Wisconsin!" The three of us chanted before we officially entered Minnesota.
Once again, this little tradition made my heart happy.
Teenagers! I love that you got them to remember their roots and participate in your family tradition!
ReplyDeleteI love these traditions and the way you wrote this small moment. It shows so much about your family in just a short piece.
ReplyDeleteI love this, we used to hold our breathe when we crossed a state line growing up. My kids will still do it (if prompted) Haha
ReplyDeleteWe do that at stoplights...or we used to!
DeleteI'm glad that both of your kids joined in! I may have to try this with my kids as we drive from Illinois to Kentucky today. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI love traditions also! I agree that it gets harder to get our teenagers to cooperate with us, lol!
ReplyDeleteI love this tradition. We used to do it as well even though we lived just a few miles from the state line and OFTEN went shopping in the next state!
ReplyDeleteOkay, this is fun and something I still do, even w/ countries. And I’m now thinking about Hello-Goodbye songs. “You say hello, and I say goodbye. Hello. Goodbye.” Then there’s the goodby song from The Sound of Music (Edelweiss) and ily’s goodbye speech in Our Town. I could go on, but you probably have a worm ear now! Ha!
ReplyDeleteI love these family rituals - we have some similar ones when crossing state lines.
ReplyDeleteSuch a lively picture you paint of your family - full of warmth and love.
Oh, those teenagers. But one day they will say, "Hey remember when we crossed a state line..." You just wait! :)
ReplyDeleteHaha! I always do this too!
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