RETURNING HOME

Have you ever thought about your return home from a skating trip or vacation? Sometimes returning home can be just as hard as the trip itself. Oh sure I had a great time at Indoor Nationals. All of the incredible skating. Records being broken for some skaters while others had broken hearts or broken bones, but there was never a dull moment. This year we were lucky. The bed we slept in the first night sagged in the center. I am always pushing Pete "over", but when we both woke up in the middle of the night and we were stuck in a hole and couldn't get out, we knew we needed the hotel to at least turn the mattress over! Some people had mold in their bathroom or could smell mold coming from the air-conditioner. How about those "full kitchens"? I really enjoy having the option of a full size refrigerator, stove, microwave and utensils, but I cooked as often in the hotel room as I do at home. Which is a big zero. But the extra space was great for the empty suitcases.

So that's when I know it's time to come home. When things aren't quiet as fun any more. Like getting up early and staying late. When all I see after I lay down and close my eyes are skaters whizzing by and hawking. One hawk after another. I never really see faces, just legs, skates, wheels and hawks. I don't even know who wins.

Finally, you know you're coming home when you have repacked your suitcase 5 times and it still does not fit everything. Even though you didn't buy one thing! Except a sweatshirt and a new set of wheels and you just had to get some stuff signed at the SEND THE BEST dinner!

Waiting in the airport is another experience. They seem to always cancel or delay the first flight of the day. We haven't had much sleep to begin with and we have gotten up early to return the rental car, rush into the airport only to stand in line for an hour and a half as they try to rebook everyone. But in the back of your mind you know you are going home!

Once you have landed and waited for your luggage (how come your luggage never gets lost when you're going home?) in the car you go. As you drive back from the airport all you can think of what it will be like when you see the front door, you walk into the house and see your kitchen, your living-room and then reality hits you!

You have tons of dirty laundry to do. Probably six or eight loads. You need to unpack all of the suitcases and then you will need to find a place for the items that you took with you. These items had a specific spot before you left but somehow that spot mysteriously filled up with other things while you were gone. I have never understood that part! Oh and don't forget that huge pile of mail. Or should I say BILLS. It's never anything good, just lots of paper telling me to hurry up and pay for last months trips.

And let's not forget how tired you are. All you want to do after your "vacation" is sleep! The lawn needs to be mowed. The kid who was supposed to water your plants forgot and now you have to spend extra time trying to get them to stand back up. And what happens when your lawn doesn't get watered but the kid mows it? Clippings are on the right...

And finally the biggest question of all. Should I put those suitcases away right now because I am going to need them again in two weeks??!!

That's what it is like for me when I return home, how about you?

Linda