Creative Gift Ideas

Every year around my mother in-law’s birthday we visit my wife’s parents. This has been going on for some time now and every year there is something that happens on the way there. Her parents live about a few hours away, but the preparation for the trip, the travel, and arrival all becomes complicated at one point or another. In fact, we have planned ahead this time to avoid any unnecessary headaches.

The last couple of times we ventured to my in-laws we experienced one type of accident or another. In fact, our very first trip was marked with a flat tire. On another occasion, our gift to her mom was stolen. We believe it occurred while we stopped for coffee at a convenience store en route. Last year, there was good news and bad news. My wife broke my black sport watch. This was somehow a positive because the slammed the door with my hand in the way. Luckily, it only shattered my watch.

So, for my birthday, she got me a shiny new men’s sport watch. It’s a bit bulky but works great and can take a pounding. This time we packed and stored our belongings in the car the night before. Also, we had her mother’s gift directly sent to her home. We also had our car checked out and were thoroughly prepared. Also, we joined a twenty four hour car service that guarantees assistance within two hours anywhere.

Clearly, we thought and planned ahead, accordingly. We also made our coffee at home and poured it into easy carry travel mugs. Our directions were mapped out in advance to avoid any pitfalls. We were up early and ready to begin our journey.

The first portion of the drive involved suburban driving. We were then going to use the expressway to get to her parent’s town. This would encompass a bulk of the driving time. The distance from our home to her parents was about one hundred and twenty miles.

Upon reaching the freeway, we noticed that it was mostly empty. There were a few other cars, but the traffic was very light. It was an early morning on a weekend. Most of the other drivers seemed to be in a similar situation as us, either coming or going from some leisure destination. One truck seemed to be in quite a rush. He was evidently a skier as he had skis hooked up to the roof of his truck.

We were traveling within the speed limit and the truck with the skis was more aggressive. The driver seemed to be swerving in and out of lanes. I guess he missed his ski time or was late for some other event. In either case, the truck sped up and passed us. After a few minutes, we saw this dark object approach our windshield. It was roundish in shape and as it came closer we were able to make it out more clearly. It was a giro ski helmet.