When my mom went into semi-retirement during my last year of College she inherited free time that hadn’t been available to her since before I was born. Suddenly, she had time during the week to garden, catch up on television shows and check errands off her list at a leisurely pace. She began volunteering at the Botanic Garden, making jewelry as a part-time job and generally catching up on some much-needed, and deserved, relaxation time.

After about a year of this new lifestyle my mom began to get a little antsy so she started adding little things to her day like taking the beagle, Wrigley, on long walks during the afternoon and reading on her Nook; however even with these additions to her routine she still seemed to often find herself with a little more free time then she wanted, which, coincidentally, and fortunately, for me, coincided with the start of what would be a 4-year stretch in my life when I needed co-pilot.

A few months after I graduated from college I decided to move to Silver City, New Mexico for my first college coaching job, and although my friend Alisa made the initial journey with me I needed someone to accompany me on the drive back. I floated the idea of the road Trip to some friend but since this was a multiple day drive none of them could take off the required days from work, but fortunately there was a person in my life who loved to travel and could adjust her schedule at a moments notice.

So, my mother got on a plane and flew Phoenix, Arizona where I picked her up from the airport and we Drove to Gallup, New Mexico one of the foremost cities in the world to buy turquoise jewelry which my adored. Mom was like a kid in a candy store in Gallup, but after the fun there was over we got focused and completed our 1,765-mile course back to Skokie. Just over a year later mom accompanied me on my next professional adventure when I moved from Skokie to Hanover, New Hampshire, but after the two and half day drive back from Silver City the previous year the mere 963-miles to Hanover was a piece of cake for mom.

About 8-months later my mom and sister were in Washington D.C. visiting George Washington University, which Sarah was considering attending for Graduate School, and since the season had just ended and I had some free time I drove down from Hanover to meet them. The following day the three of us drove the 494-miles from D.C. back to Hanover with a brief stop along the way so that Sarah could visit Boston College – another graduate school option. Once back in Hanover my mom and Sarah helped me pack up my apartment and after I put Sarah on a plane back to Chicago my mom and I retraced our tire marks from the previous summer on our way back to Skokie.

But, it didn’t stop there for mom as over the course of the next 6-months she drove with me for a job interview at a school in Harriman, Tennessee (575-miles each way), and then the following week drove with my dad and Sarah (while I flew) to meet me at another job interview in Troy, New York. After the interview the 4 of us drove to Boston in order to move Sarah into her apartment since she had decided to attend graduate school at Boston College and then, after she was settled in, I drove with my parents back to Skokie, which, according to Google Maps, was a trip that covered 2,000-miles.

If that wasn’t enough time in the car for one person, a little over a month later, my mom drove with me to Fort Myers, Florida where I was moving in order to work at Florida Gulf Coast University. Thankfully, she didn’t have to make the 1,319-mile drive back with me a little less than 7-months later because her and my dad were out-of-town, but fortunately I didn’t have to make the drive back alone since it happened to work out that Alisa was off from work during the same week I intended to drive back to Skokie.

Between June of 2007 and October of 2009 my mom, mostly in the passenger’s seat, logged 8,654-miles (give or take a few), driving in all directions across this great country of ours, in order to help her son (and even her daughter once on a combined trip) interview for jobs and then move for them. It’s pretty incredible when I think about it – all those miles mom spent in the car, keeping me company and taking over behind the wheel when I needed a break, but bless her heart she did it and never complained.

But, she didn’t go on all those trips just because she was bored and wanted to see the country, she did it because they gave her the opportunity to spend some extra time with her son who had been living, or was moving, far away. During our trips we’d talk endlessly about anything that popped into our heads while also taking in the scenery around us, but above all we really just enjoyed being together, and when you are in a car with someone for as many miles as we were you get the opportunity to share a lot of great times together that both of you will never forget.