Vacation’s End

Well, week is almost through and my vacation is almost done. Well not entirely, I still don’t have to go back to work until the 28th but it’s time to go back to Atlanta. I’m actually quite ready and looking forward to being at home again. This trip was a really great way to relax and work on getting my head all straight again. Do I feel better, yep, perfect…eh, not so much. But I’ll get there. Time away from work and all its stresses has been a huge help. I’m not in a hurry to go back except for the chance to see some of my good friends. I will miss not having to go out in the cold if I don’t want to though. It’s been nice being able to just stay under my heating blanket all day if I wanted to. Just having the choice to do whatever has been such a blessing.

Yesterday I completed my final goal of this trip and made my way up to New York. It took me longer than I’d planned cause I had a really slow start in the morning. I was also completely floored by the amount of money the northern states charge in tolls. Good thing I’d planned ahead cause I dropped almost $23.00 on tolls. But in the end if was worth it. I met up with my old friend Tyrone and we chatted over food. If they restaurant we were at hadn’t closed and kicked us out I can’t imagine how long we might have been there. It’s always that way with Tyrone, every time we hang out it lasts for hours. He’s just so easy to talk to and he’s absolutely hilarious. I’m really glad I got to go. Unfortunately we didn’t get to walk around New York at all really. It was dark and the wind was horrific. Just a few minutes outside and we were both frozen to the bone. But I did get to drive through Time’s Square with everything all lit up. I’m sure my country girl roots were showing because I spent quite a bit of time gawking out my windows while sitting in NY traffic. I’ve never seen anything like it. Last time I was in NY we visited museums and didn’t stay too late.

The trip got even better when I got a hold of my brother and ended up taking a short detour into Philly on my way back. I hadn’t planned on stopping but I’m glad I did. We went and got pizza with two of his friends and then I got a quick tour of his dorm and dorm room. He seems happy and as always Max and is Mr. Popular. Kid’s got more charisma than anyone I’ve ever met. We were both ready to be out of the cold though. He’s supposed to be flying down to GA next week but from what I hear it’s just as miserably cold there as it is up here so I couldn’t give him a light at the end of the tunnel.

I ended up rolling into Dad’s driveway at probably 1:30 but in the end it was all worth it. The tolls, the trouble, and the cold. I’m really glad I made myself go and do that even though it was have been easier to cop out on that last part of my trip. I will say this though, seeing New York and Philadelphia in one day and taking a good look around….neither of them compare to my beautiful, green Atlanta. Neither are as dirty and dingy as Baltimore is but I still hold to my original assessment of Atlanta almost seven years ago; it is a beautiful, clean, green city that is a pleasure to visit and drive around in. New York traffic was a nightmare and Philadelphia’s parking is just weird. At night it seems people park their cars in the turning lanes on the roads when there’s no parking left by the sidewalks. That threw me for a second, especially since I was so tired when I was leaving. I didn’t know what to make of it. I also have to thank Atlanta drivers for all my schooling on the roads. At first I was polite while driving in New York but the moment I snapped and realized just how flat out rude NY drivers were, I stopped being nice. And those New Yorkers might think they’re tough but so are Atlanta drivers. They’re some of the rudest people I’ve ever seen on the road and that definitely came out after about 5 minutes of being cut off and honked at when doing nothing wrong.

Yeah, I think I miss my city and my lovely Senoia. I’m ready to go home to the comforts of my home and husband.

And I have a lot to look forward to for the next week too. Dad is flying into town on Wednesday and my brother is supposed to be coming in as well at some point. I’m so glad they’ll be around for Christmas, though I wish Grammie was too. I understand that she can’t though. It’ll be a good first Christmas for Roo. First thing on my agenda once I’m home is getting a tree and decorating the house. I want it to look good for our first real Christmas there.

I’ll be prepping for my trip back tomorrow. Gonna visit with my big sister and say bye to little Ariel. Then I’m going to DC to visit my Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa Joe fell a few days ago and banged himself up pretty bad. Today was his 93rd birthday. Grandma let me talk to him while I had her on the phone to make plans for tomorrow. She and I are gonna go to lunch. He can’t go, he has to stay at the rehabilitation facility but I’ll at least get to say hi and bye to him. Once I leave there I’m heading to Virginia where I’ll be staying for the night. Jessie and her boyfriend Jess are there and they said they’d put me up for the night so I could get a little heads start on my drive for Friday. Hopefully if I get myself up early enough I’ll be able to get back in GA at a decent hour. Chris is supposed to be working Friday though so I won’t get to see him until Saturday. Sadness. I keep toying with the idea of popping by the office for a second to see the girls but Megann’s left for Michigan and I don’t know if Jamie is going to be there. But they’re both supposed to be in the office when I go back to actually work so I’ll see them both then at least. I know at some point next week I’m going to go see Diana and probably see Tron. Joe will be out of town and I got stories to tell her. I miss my bestie, definitely looking forward to hanging out with her again.

So, trip was a on a whole, a success. I’m relaxed, I’m happy, and I don’t feel the need to sprint off to the other side of the world anymore. I’d definitely call this a success. Though on one sad little note, Chris just called me and told me Shaheen is not doing well. I get the feeling that’s a situation I will have to deal with as soon as I’m home too. I was hoping to put off putting her down until after Christmas but she has another infection and she’s not eating. It might be time. Part of owning pets though I guess. Poor Shaheen. I’ll update about that as soon as I’m home and know more. Until then, I’m off. So sleepy.