Packing It In

     There are few things which point out the differences between my husband and myself more than the way we pack. Reed travels for work, sometimes a lot, and I tag along, probably too much, but it has given us enough travel opportunities to have packing down to a fine art. Unfortunately, we are not in the same Art class. Right from the outset we have different styles. I pack everything possible the day before and have the outfit I am going to wear for travel assembled down to the earrings. Whereas, unless we have an early morning flight to catch, Reed would rather pack about the time we are supposed to be leaving. In fact, he was doing that the first time I met him. It was annoying but, at the time, I had no idea how many years I would be experiencing it. Through the years we've reached a compromise where we each do our part, he brings up the suitcases, I wash all the clothes, I "remind" him to pack, he packs. Reed also prefers the morning of for checking the vehicle's tire pressure and fluids. The advantage of that method is that it might cause us to visit an auto parts store that we have never been to before. The drawback is that we will leave late and I will remind him why.

     Another difference is in the amount we pack. I pack only what I am sure I will need. Reed packs everything except what he is sure he won't need. This last trip he brought along a speaker we bought years ago to play audiobooks on my laptop before I could download them on my phone, but we discovered then that the tiny speaker was not any louder than the one in my laptop. This trip, the audiobook was on my phone, I could play it through Reed's truck stereo and, even if I couldn't, we would not have been able to hear on the tiny speaker, but he still brought it because "you never know". I pack like a minimalist. Reed is a maximalist.

    As to suitcases, I am all about compartments. Undies in one, socks and belts in another. Meds and toothbrush in the small outside pocket. Toiletries and hair brush in the big outside pocket. Clothes in the big empty space. Reed puts everything in the big empty space--clothes, books, shoes etc. The most recent suitcase I bought for him even has a waterproof compartment that would be ideal for wet swimsuits, shoes or liquid toiletries. Reed usually leaves it empty. I like everything in its place and a place for everything. Reed packs a suitcase like it's a cardboard box. 

    And his portable cardboard box is his car. I had three children just so the back seat would be full and he would stop flinging things into it. He drives a compact car--a trash compact--but my car is clean so I can live with that. On work trips Reed takes a lot of heavy tools. I have about convinced him how ironically sad it would be to survive the car accident only to be clubbed to death by the cargo, so there are not as many unguided missiles riding loose in the back of the car as in years past.

    But if my husband and I differ on when and how we pack suitcases and cars, we work in harmony unpacking at home and hotels. However, there is this little awkward gap in between about the size of the hotel luggage cart. Reed would rather make three trips up and down stairs carrying as many heavy, awkward items as possible than make one trip pushing the cart. He wants me to join him in this group activity/exercise. Reed is convinced that by the time I go get the cart and bring it back to the room, we could have carried the two suitcases, three briefcases, various bags of laundry, shoes, food, etc. ourselves. I use the luggage cart for the same reason I use a grocery cart--I never learned to juggle. But it is a good thing I got the cart the morning we left our last hotel--Reed was still packing.