A friend of ours from college is getting married and we're invited to the wedding. The wedding is in London. John really wants to go, but we went back and forth about the cost of airfare for four people, the logistics of dealing with carseats on a plane, the vast amount of gear that we'd have to haul along and what to do with the kids during the actual wedding.

When people heard that we were considering taking the kids with us, we were mostly met with incredulity. Why on earth would we want to go to Europe with two little kids in tow? As one of my coworkers said, "I think you should go. But leave the kids with your mom."

The reasons for taking Maureen and Johnny along are many. I'm uncomfortable with the idea of being on another continent from them. I miss them terribly when I'm gone for the day at work; I think I'd miss them too much to be able to enjoy myself if we went to London without them. Plus, we're a family and we do things as a family. Neither John nor I wants to take a big trip like that without our children there.

Finally, I think it would be asking too much for my mom to drop her life for a week to take care of my kids.

So when I read this article in Parents Magazine, about how today's grandparents are no longer available at the drop of a hat, I felt like crowing, "I told you so!"

Continued at The Great Walls Of Baltimore.