All she wants is a trip to Lancaster and not some designer bag that costs as much as a round trip ticket to Aruba

When you ask your daughter what she’d like to do for her 18th birthday, she might surprise you and say something like, “I just want to see fall foliage on real farmland.  Like in Lancaster.”

Granted, it’s highly unlikely, but — speaking from experience — it can happen.  And if she’s in 12th grade at a decidedly academic school where absences are taken very seriously, you might have to limit that trip to the confines of a single Sunday.  Which could mean six hours of driving in one day with no particular destination.

So being the loving, giving, and guilt-ridden mother that you are, you heartily agree to the plan. You mark the date in your calendar two weeks in advance and warn your husband that he’s going to have to babysit the entire Sunday in honor of your daughter’s birthday, because for goodness’ sake, all she wants is a trip to Lancaster and not some designer bag that costs as much as a round trip ticket to Aruba.  Neither is she asking for the round trip ticket to Aruba, for that matter.