The Road to Hell

Yesterday GalleyCat mentioned that MAKING COMICS author Scott McCloud is "taking his wife and two daughters along on a promotional junket that, spread out over the course of twelve months, will hit all fifty states and the United Kingdom to boot."

I love Darling Husband and the Boy Wonder to distraction, but I couldn't bear 12 days in a car with them; forget about 12 months. The feeling is mutual, they assured me. (DH noted that I wouldn't want to spend an entire year traveling, period. He may be right, but that's beside the point.) After just a few days of 24/7 family coziness at the beach, I'm craving some time alone.

I sent the McCloud info to an author friend who's a loving partner and devoted dad. He immediately shot back:

A YEAR-LONG driving book tour with wife & 2 daughters? Oh, dear God! Was he hoping to gather material for a true-crime book?

My sentiments exactly.

Similarly, the thought of home schooling gives me the heebie jeebies. I have friends who do it, one of them with four kids. I don't understand how they not only can bear it, but even enjoy it. Me, I'd be like the friend who was stuck home with the kids while her husband travelled on business for weeks on end. She mentally composed a newspaper headline: "Mother of 3 kills children, self." (She and husband are now retired and the kids all lived into adulthood.)