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Parenting with Connie: The Nagigator
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Anonymous user Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:06:52 PST
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0 responses 0 comments “The Nagigator.”
That is the name my family has fondly dubbed me because I have “nagigated” my family successfully through third-world countries, which was easy because most of the time there was one road in and one road out. Little did I know my skill at “nagigating” would adversely affect my children.
When my daughter called me this spring and told me that she took a position in Kalamazoo, Mich., she said, “Mom, it’s not that far, Michigan borders Idaho.”
I laughed because my daughter has a master’s degree (but not in geography). Her lack of any sense of direction has been a point of contention for years. When she was at Stockdale High School,  one day she day asked for directions to The Marketplace and ended up at the Valley Plaza. I’m not kidding. 
So when she decided to trek 2,500 miles across the country, I knew my services would be required. I was afraid she really would end up in Timbuktu. Even though my children believe I have a GPS implanted in my uterus, I knew I could not rely solely on that, so I made her go to AAA roadside service to get maps and other travel information. My daughter appreciated my “nagigating” skills, mostly because I paid for food and lodging. 
My husband, on the other hand, doesn’t appreciate my skills, he just really likes the term “nagigator.” Often, we will be driving somewhere, and when I suggest a different route, he will say,  “Look, there’s a McDonald’s, hon, would you like some chicken ‘McNagets’?”
Better yet, he suggests we take our next vacation to “Nagra Falls.”
This Thanksgiving we traveled. The four of us flew from Los Angeles to Cancun. My oldest daughter had to drive from Kalamazoo to Chicago to take a flight to Cancun. We met in Cancun, took a ferry to Cozumel, and spent Thanksgiving together. Our three 20ish, single adult children would probably have liked to stay in Cancun, but did I mention “family vacation,” not “children-of-abstinence-teacher-gone-wild?”
Six people, including my brother from Anchorage,  Alaska were expertly “nagigated” to arrive at the same airport within an hour. I told my brother I would not leave the Cancun airport without my oldest daughter. If we got separated, he was on his own. 
He protested,  “But I have never left the motherland.”
I e-mailed him a map and told him to go to the nearest McDonald’s where he could get himself some chicken “McNagets.”
Hope you enjoyed your family and ate lots of turkey this Thanksgiving. I know what my brother was eating.
E-mail Connie at: cmoustakis@bak.rr.com

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