Day 40: Home

It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed is you. – F. Scott Fitzgerald

The trip home:
It took us a while to get home from San Diego. The computers were down in the airport, so they had to do everything by hand (!), we missed our flight, we missed our connection, and 3 of our 4 bags didn’t make it home with us. Feeling so lucky that all that happened on the last leg of the trip rather than at the beginning.

All 5 of us were ready to come home at the end of the 5th week. Sad but true. We love our neighbourhood, our friends, our families, and it felt like we’d been away a long time. That said, we had an amazing time in San Diego. Anyway, if I were doing this again, I’d go for 5 weeks.

Opening the door:
Walking through the door to our house, I immediately felt such a sense of relief, which was rapidly followed by a feeling of being overwhelmed. 56 different things that I had meant to do before we left all came flooding back. The picture frames that are hung on the wall but are empty. The backyard landscaping that is planned but not done. The piles of stuff from my former office.

And then there are the things that piled up while we were away: the bills, the garden, the voicemails, the haircuts (oh boy did we need haircuts!), the emails…

And then there’s the jetlag. It’s one thing dealing with your own, but it is hard on the kids, and they need some support through it for sure.

It’s hard to keep that ‘live in the moment’ feeling that we had on vacation going!

Our dog basically lost his mind when we came in, and has been ridiculously excited every time we come home ever since. I know I didn’t want a dog, but I love this little guy.

Answering the Questions!
I find it interesting to watch how others ask about the trip. Some are SO keen to hear every last detail, peppering us with questions which brings it all back. The blog has already come in handy for helping a friend heading to Thailand, so I’m happy about that.

One person, after hearing the trip recounted by Derek, asked me what I thought. He said ‘now I heard what he thinks, I want to know what you think’. Such a special person to have the patience to listen to both of us!

Others are less keen going so far as to say things like ‘I’m sure you’re tired of talking about it so I won’t ask. See you later.’ Fair enough. You don’t want to listen to me prattle on about all the fun I had.

But for those who wonder but aren’t here to ask – it was great.

And I think that was part of the point of this blog, beyond showing the kids how a website works. It was to try to show others that it is possible to travel with kids. They are fun. You can have fun. It doesn’t have to be stressful. You can slow down. You can re-set and re-charge and re-connect with one another. And in the end you can feel invigorated and ready to tackle anything. At least that’s how I’m feeling at the moment.

So if you’re debating taking a trip, just go already!