We are going on a road trip tomorrow. We are going to drive to my sister’s house so we can spend Thanksgiving with her family. My parents will also be there – it’s sure to be a great time for all of us. Tonight, we packed for the trip.

I would imagine that many parents would consider packing a few band-aids and maybe Tylenol for a short vacation. Some might bring a thermometer too. We packed a bit more than that. I got the band-aids, Tylenol, and thermometer, plus some Benadryl, a couple medicine syringes, the pulse oximeter, about five rolls of different kinds of medical tape, gauze, two-inch and three-inch ace bandages, vaseline, Aquaphor, Eucerin, silver gel, triple antibiotic ointment, fancy wound care dressings, medical scissors, tweezers, saline, her special gloves to protect her hands, her cooling vest and extra ice packs, and maybe some other stuff I forgot to mention, too.

Most of that is stuff we don’t currently need; of that whole list, the only things we are using daily are the two-inch ace bandages and some tape. You can never be too careful, though. Once, on vacation, Grace bit herself and her bone was exposed, and I was so glad to have the fancy wound care dressings and silver gel. Once, she fell and sprained her wrist and needed it to be wrapped. Once, she got rug burn over her entire legs and torso when she was sliding down carpeted stairs. Several times, she’s gotten fevers while on vacation. You just never know what sort of injury or accident could happen, and it’s best to be prepared for everything.

Here’s hoping we don’t need any of the extra stuff!