By Wendy Monro

A few months ago, we agreed to travel to California to celebrate my cousin’s children’s high school graduation. My cousins who are graduating are twins and their mother, my cousin, Julie, is one of my best friends. Her twins have autism. However, they have managed to graduate with honors and receive scholarships to reputable universities. We are all so proud of them.

Julie and I were pregnant at the same time. She was pregnant with Madelyn and Jacob and I was pregnant with Daphne. Our due dates were on the same day. Because she gave birth to twins, she ended up going into labor a month before I did. We have all been very close ever since. I knew we had to do whatever it took to be there to help celebrate this very special day.

Because I am a habitual procrastinator, I waited to book our rooms in California until the week of the event. Once I started looking, places were either booked or more expensive than we could afford. Julie has raised her three children as a single mother in a 700 square foot house and there is not enough room for the four of us to stay there. In fact, her bed is in the living room and is actually a couch. We jokingly call it “The Bouch”. So, I was in a pickle.

I started looking at surrounding towns, desperately trying to find us a place to stay for the weekend. I went onto Air BNB, which is a great way to find affordable lodging. We have used it several times in the past and have always loved the places we find. I really like finding a home where we can all stay together with a kitchen and a living room. It is so much nicer than staying in separate hotel rooms. I finally found a house in Temecula, which is about fifteen minutes from Julie’s town. It had three bedrooms and was affordable. I quickly booked it on the day we were leaving.

Once everything was booked, I forwarded the information to Claud. He looked into it and discovered that the house was an hour away from Julie’s house and an hour and a half from the restaurant where the graduation party was being held. Oops. I guess Temecula is bigger than I imagined. We decided to go for it anyway, packed and headed out. Daphne and Jack drove separately because they wanted their freedom. We were fine with that because we didn’t mind having our own freedom. Claud and I put the address into the navigation in our car. Daphne put hers into her iphone. All was well and we drove to California.

Once we were close, Claud and I found ourselves on dirt roads. No biggie. We could handle a dirt road or two. Soon, the dirt turned into potholes and big rocks. My car is not an SUV, nor is it four-wheel drive. Still, we remained calm. We came onto a few dead ends and wondered what we got ourselves into. At this point, we had no phone signal and I couldn’t check on the kids. Finally, we made it to our road. It was steep, narrow and rocky. About half way up, we realized we were in a desperate situation and this couldn’t possibly be right. I was on the verge of tears. Somehow, miraculously, Claud managed to turn our car around and drive us back to civilization. I panicked, not knowing where the kids were. Once we came into an area with phone service, I reached them.

They were already at the house and unpacking. We went the completely wrong back way. They were lead straight to the house without any problems whatsoever. In about thirty minutes, we were reunited. I poured myself a glass of wine and ate one of Daphne’s amazing miniature carrot cake cupcakes. While I sipped my wine, Claud pointed out the hill we had gone up. We could see it from the patio. We laughed. I couldn’t believe it. My blood pressure subsided and we carried on having an amazing vacation. The graduation party was a blast with lots of tearful and heartfelt toasts. I am so happy we were able to make it, even if it was scary.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes:

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Yields: 12 regular cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

teaspoon ground ginger

2 tablespoons canola oil

4 eggs

4 carrots, grated

1 cup butter, softened

1 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place muffin paper liners into muffin tin. Soft flour, white sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and ginger together into a large bowl. Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Beat canola oil and beaten eggs into the flour mixture with electric mixer. Stir in carrots. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes (if mini) or 35 minutes (if regular size) or until the time a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool. Beat butter and cream cheese together with electric mixer until fluffy. Add vanilla and confectioner’s sugar until well combined. Beat with electric mixer until fluffy. Fill a pastry bag or plastic baggy with a hole cut into the corner. Pipe frosting onto each cupcake.