Anna M. Aquino

As many of you know my family and I travel to Canada about twice a year. In the 14 years now that I’ve been visiting my in-laws; Dan and I have collected a variety of funny border stories. There was the time when Dan and I were dating and the American Border Guard asked Dan essentially “what his intentions were” with me as an American. There was the time that we’d forgotten the birth certificate of my oldest daughter when she was about four and made her keep rehearsing “I’m an American from Florida” in the car. Or there was the time where I kept trying to explain to the guard that the “homemade coppicollo” was for our private consumption and it was really okay for us to cross with it. My list of funny stories could go on. We always drive up there borrowing a vehicle from my parents. This summer my parents purchased a brand new luxury vehicle. For years my mother used to put in a note that stated I could borrow her car, and we stopped doing it because in all the years no one ever ask...

As many of you know a few weeks ago my family and I drove across the country for the holidays. As any long road trip it soon became full of its own adventure. Truthfully the way there wasn’t too bad. We took three days to get there because we stopped and visited a few people on the way. It was the way back, when we drove it straight through that I was again saying to Dan we need a jet plane. My oldest daughter was setting in the backseat of the SUV with her DS taking pictures along the way. She was getting very annoyed with us because she wanted to get a picture of all the states “Welcome To” signs, so I started trying to tell her where they were whenever we were going to pass them. On our way into Michigan I said to the girls, “Look there is the sign. We’re in Michigan! Look! Look! Look!” I was sure they heard me. We were nearing the Canada border and all was well. About ten minutes later I heard a “MOM!” from the back seat of the car. “We’re in Michigan! Why didn’t y...