I'm back

I know you've all missed me so. Well, there was a death in the family (not unexpected, but a few weeks earlier than expected). So our relaxing Christmas at home with the kids and my wife's parents ended up being spent... elsewhere. We drove 1000 miles -- without a break -- to get to the funeral in time. Actually, we drove 1000 miles to get to my in-laws' home, and then the next morning took a three-hour drive further south to go to the funeral.

A week later, we drove the 1000 miles back home.

I don't like long drives. So I find it annoying that we have lived a minimum of a 10 hour-drive from close family for the past twelve years. Before I took this job, I was determined that the next position would take us closer to family. Instead, we moved further away.

But I love my job and don't want to leave. I really feel like this is where I'm supposed to be. But an 18-hour drive? Yuck. And we actually didn't leave until 4pm the day we left last week. And for some reason, I made the decision to drive through the night (if we hadn't, we would have gotten in really late and then had to get up early the next morning to drive the extra three hours). Driving through the night... well, we used to do it all the time, on a 12-hour drive from home to my in-laws' home. We'd arrive at dawn and plop into bed.

But I'm not in my 20's anymore. This was a hard trip. Leaving at 4pm meant we didn't arrive til 11am the next day. Around 5am, I just couldn't do it anymore. It was a combination of exhaustion, tension (from the driving), and pain (sitting in one position for 12 hours is not good for my already-bad back).

So, home now. Glad I am going to sleep in my own bed tonight. Don't want to make any long trips for a while.