Early one morning last spring as I was walking Remy, I heard noises. 5:30 in the morning is not the usual hour to hear a commotion so I listened harder. I recognized clapping, music and voices. As I got closer to the parking lot where the noises were coming from, I saw a bunch of cars. I also noticed girls moving in synchronization while other women were off to the side.

My brain told me that this was a group of cheerleaders preparing for a competition. Don’t judge me. As a former cheerleader,I knew that competition season was upon us. I figured that they were going through their routine one more time before they left for the school where it was being held.

Realization hit a few seconds later.

This was not a cheerleading squad after all.

It was a group of women exercising.

In the early morning hours.

In the cold.

There was no way that the truth was on my radar in any way, shape or form.

I cannot fathom working out in the cold. There’s a reason for this: I have Reynaud’s. It a condition where your extremities don’t get a lot of circulation. That translates to my fingers and toes going numb in cold temps and me always being cold in general. I mean, I haven’t tried Bikram yoga yet but sweating profusely is more in my wheelhouse.

I walk my dog no matter what but in the winter months, the walks are shorter. I bundle up with my ear wrap, alpaca gloves and socks, as well as a scarf. I do what I can to make my misery as minimal as possible. So the idea that these women were CHOOSING to work out in the cold on stone-cold pavement is unfathomable to me.

The point of this story is that they are once again in my neighborhood. I heard their music as I stepped outside today. Temps will be warmer but at 5:30 in the morning, I am still using an ear wrap and gloves to maintain some semblance of warmth.

Good luck ladies. I don’t envy you. But I do admire your dedication.

This weekend was all about family. My spouse, the dog and I drove up to New Hampshire for a beautiful baby shower. It was beautiful because my brother-in-law was in charge of decorating as well as the menu. I was too busy eating to get a photo of the food beforehand, so you’ll have to imagine it on your own.

I should have been filled with joy at the prospect of seeing my sister-in-law pregnant with her first child. It was great to see her once we arrived. It’s the journey that leaves me frustrated and lethargic.

Why, you ask, should I hate road trips? I don’t think I used to. Actually, scratch that. I loved road trips.

As a child, we would travel from Connecticut to Florida every other year to go on vacation. My mother needed beach time and we kids needed DisneyWorld. Notice how I said “needed”. It was true back then. My mom had to be on the beach in the morning so we stayed at Daytona Beach. Then in the afternoon, we would hop in our rental car and head over to see Mickey and the gang.

After I married my spouse, we had to travel across the country to set up our new home. One time we even drove straight through from Nebraska to Connecticut in 24 hours straight! I wouldn’t do that again but we needed to save money and we had little time to waste so we did it. The worst part about that trip was almost being hit by a tractor-trailer in Pennsylvania. The driver must have been sleepy because we had to veer into the breakdown lane to avoid disaster.

And every few years, we hop in the car to PSC somewhere new. We usually drive from 8 or 9 am until 5 or 6 pm. We don’t normally stop and rest for lunch since we have dogs. We park the car, take the dogs out to stretch their legs and do their business, go inside and hit the restroom ourselves, and order our food to go. Then back into the car we go. We never move somewhere nearby so it’s easily a two-day or more trip.

But now we are back in Washington, DC and the drive back to New England is feasible. It should technically take 6 hours to my family and 9 to hubby’s. It makes sense to drive when we had four people and a dog. Our families don’t mind the intrusion of our pets so we save money on kennel costs.

But our initial trips were marred with traffic jams. The Jersey turnpike isn’t friendly to travelers. We have been in standstill traffic too many times. One Thanksgiving, our return trip took 12 hours from CT. I was not happy.

That has soured me on going back up for the holidays.

And in general, it has soured me on any travel by car.

Our newest dog, Remy, hates car rides. She is very excited to get in the car and then once she is inside, she shakes and pants like crazy. That doesn’t help my aversion to this form of travel.

I have to say that my spouse tries. He flew up to New Hampshire on this last trip. Our 9-hour car (truck) ride only took 7 ½! Both ways! I’m not sure how we did it but I am grateful that I wasn’t cooped up for too long. I think he’s trying to convert me back into loving road trips.

Maybe he should suggest Disney?