It's So Over

The thing about vacation is that when it's over, it's really over. I started to get that sense during the 16 1/2 hour car ride on the way home. This happens to me every summer. I try desperately to maintain a restful spirit but feel sabotaged by the mail pile, the laundry loads, the e-mail lists, the blinking answering machine light, the dried out hanging basket plants in the back yard desperately clinging to survival, and the ever popular post trip car wash. Nothing says vacation is over like scraping the dead bugs off the windshield and vacuuming out the car food remnants.


Lucky for us, we had a small diversion. Some sweet folks from our old church were getting together for an ice cream social, and they invited us to join. So, after a solid afternoon of unpacking and washing we headed to our friends' house, where the adults sat under the ceiling fans on the patio and ate homemade ice cream and the kids fished in the pond. It was a nice transition between vacation mode and real life. Road trips are great, but it feels really good to be home sweet home.