The Best Kept Secret Blog - I Won't Grow Out Of It

3 whales, 2 light houses and 13 rounds of my children singing, "This Land Is My Land".

Those are the sites and sounds that I slept through during our family road trip across Newfoundland this week.

It wasn't boredom or lack of interest that caused me to miss so much. Rather, it was being zonked out on the Gravol I take to battle car sickness.

This isn't the first time my affliction has caused me to doze through a trip.

My husband tells the story of our honeymoon in Scotland. After shelling out big bucks for a tour of the lochs, he and our driver had a lovely time while I, medicated for motion sickness, snored in the back seat.

I have suffered from car sickness since I was a child. And despite being assured, "You'll grow out of it", I never have.

In fact, there are many things I've never grown out of. An acquaintance once told me, "People become more of themselves as they get older" and I'm beginning to see what he means.

In addition to my disposition to nausea on winding roads, there are interests and skills that I acquired when I was younger that I never grew out of.

At times, I've rebelled against these traits. (I love clothes but honestly, how many pairs of black pants does a girl really need?)

When I was younger, I didn't appreciate how my inner abilities (or lack thereof) could be a guide. (I won't even begin to go into the details of how, despite a seemingly genetic inability to bake cookies, I volunteered to supply 40 dozen for a school fundraiser.)

In fact, when I was younger, I honestly thought I could do anything. I said "Yes" to many things I shouldn't have and stressed over how I was going to get things done.

But I'm beginning to realize that one of the pearls of middle-age is that we finally come to understand ourselves. What we're good at and what we should just step away from. And instead of wasting time on things that aren't right for us, we focus on what we really want.

So, excuse me while I pop a Gravol. I'm getting in the car and heading off to find the nearest mall.