We hadn’t planned on taking a whirlwind weekend adventure.
Back when we started planning to go to New York for our niece’s high school graduation, I figured I’d take a couple of days off, and we would have a leisurely visit.
I would make an eagle cheeseball for the graduating Eagle in honor of her high school mascot. I made one two years ago when her older brother graduated, so it was only fair that I would make one for her, too.
My sons and I would hand off graduation gifts, spend two or three nights, hug our goodbyes, and head back to Baltimore.
Then life started picking up speed. I realized I needed to be back in the office on Monday. In more exciting news, my sister-in-law reached out to say they were planning a high school graduation party that Saturday for my nephew, who lives just outside of Philadelphia.
Obviously, we would be there. We couldn’t wait to celebrate both the high school graduates in the family. I mapped out our trip and told my sons the plan. We would leave at midday on Friday for New York, go to my niece’s evening graduation, spend the night there, wake up the next morning, drive to our nephew’s party in Pennsylvania, and then drive home by Saturday night.
My husband had ended up with other plans for the weekend, which meant we would have a little extra room in the car.
Extra Room
Extra room. Hmm. That gave me an idea. Maybe one of our cousins who lives in New England would like to travel down to meet us in New York, go to the graduation party, and catch a ride back to Baltimore for a week with his grandparents.
I reached out to my brother Ricky to ask if his oldest son would like to make the trip. Before I had time to say, “Eagle cheeseball,” he had purchased a train ticket to New York for his son that Saturday morning.
I couldn’t wait.
Prepping for the Trip
In the days approaching our departure, I made sure I had flyswatters (and checks) for the two high school graduates and the recent college graduate we would see, too.
I acquired Berger cookies and Utz crab chips, and I assembled a family of Cokes with names on them for my brother, sister-in-law, and their two children.
I purchased everything I would need to make an eagle cheeseball, just in case I could fit it into our narrow timeframe. I also stopped by our local diner to buy mouse-shaped chocolate mousse cakes to celebrate the college grad—the rat enthusiast in the family.
The day arrived, and we packed the car. My sons and I filled a bag with snacks and lunch, assembled a small cooler of drinks, grabbed all the chargers, and hit the road.
Hello, Summer Traffic
You can’t travel the highways in the Northeast on a summer Friday without hitting traffic, and we faced our share. But we were on a mission.
We arrived in New York about 10 minutes before we needed to walk over to the high school, where my sister Maureen was saving seats for us. The graduation was wonderful, and I was so proud of our niece—and thankful we had made it in time.
Afterward, we took photos, went out to dinner, and then headed home to eat chocolate mouse mousse cakes.
You’re probably thinking that was my moment—around 10 p.m. on Friday—to make the eagle cheeseball. I wish I had realized it then. But I was so tired from driving that I couldn’t imagine grating cheese and forming an eagle. And no one was hungry for anything except a sliver of chocolate mouse/mousse. So, I decided to leave the cheeseball for the morning.
The next morning, though, I was not any less tired or more inclined to grate cheese. Maureen and I went to pick up iced coffee and breakfast for the teens who would need to be pried out of bed for the next leg of our road trip.
No one had slept enough. Still, everyone woke up in good spirits, knowing that we would see yet another cousin, coming in on the train from Rhode Island, and then head to the graduation bash for our other college-bound nephew.
A Grater Trip
As we made our first turn to start our drive to Pennsylvania, I heard a clatter in the back of the car. Something was bouncing around in the cargo area.
“Is that an umbrella?” I asked, as my sons turned to look. For a minute, all I could hear was the banging in the back of the car.
“Mom,” my son said, sounded just a little incredulous, “Did you…pack a cheese grater?”
Why, yes, yes, I did. I never used it, but I had it just in case we had time to assemble an eagle cheeseball.
We drove for almost three hours, hearing regularly from the cheese grater, which was bouncing around the back of the car. No one except me thought this was a time for puns, but it was grate. It was even grater than you can imagine. Just so grate.
Noisy luggage aside, we made it to the party! There was plastic ax throwing and so much food and a basketball net. Some of our favorite people were there, of course. And my nephew seemed to appreciate not just the Cokes bearing his name and his sister’s and parents’, but also his very own flyswatter. Everyone should start a new chapter in their lives with a flyswatter.
As we were leaving, I tucked the cheese grater away in a bag so we wouldn’t hear from it again. We said our goodbyes, made sure we had everything we needed, and we headed home.
Mission (Mostly) Accomplished
As we pulled into the driveway, I realized we had left only about 30 hours earlier. But we had accomplished almost everything we wanted to. We saw and celebrated the recent grads. We connected with family. We brought an extra cousin home with us so we could enjoy some summer days hanging out with him.
We drove more than 450 miles, spent more than 10 hours on the road, and did everything we wanted to along the way, in fact, but make an eagle cheeseball.
And that is something to celebrate.
Copyright © 2025 Catholic Review Media
English
Spanish