And I'm Home.

The trip home yesterday was, how shall I say, tiring. Yes. Tiring. But tiring is putting it mildly. It took me a good 6 1/2 hours, mostly due to the fact that I had to keep stopping to pee. On the way up I was drinking coffee like a mad woman and only stopped 3 times. On the way back down, I only had one mug (on account of the one rest area I stopped at, their coffee vending machine only spit out creamer and hot water), and I must have stopped 5 or 6 times. And not like a "I think I'll stop and try to pee." No, it was a full on "OMG thank god that rest area came up; I would NOT have made it to the next one" feeling.

But I finally made it home, and as luck would have it, Caelyn wasn't home yet. I got to sit quietly for about 45 minutes before she came in like a whirlwind. I was seriously so tired, when I put my car away, I could barely summon the strength to open the garage door. I was completely wiped out.

Driving up into the mountains is so much more enjoyable than leaving the mountains and entering NJ on Route 17S. Now THAT is depressing. I get so elated when I pass the sign that says "Entering Adirondack Park" and I feel like it's welcoming me home. But when I pass the sign that says "Now Leaving Adirondack Park" my heart sinks. Which is kind of funny. I've lived my entire life in New Jersey in this same little apartment (minus the first few months of my life when we lived in Texas). Over the years we have made countless trips up north, and out to Western NY to visit family on both sides, but not so many in the past few years. I get comfortable here in Jersey, the convenience of everything, yet stuck in a rut, just living a routine without meaning. But when I am up north, that is when I really feel like I'm home. My heart expands to take in everything around me. It makes me feel that I could (and want to) live out the rest of my days there. And being only 28, that's a lot of days!

Let me get a little more serious here. There's this grocery store there called Aldi's, and holy hell they sell these cheese puff things, it kinda looks like Pirate's Booty, but it's BUTTER FLAVORED. Puffed butter flavored corn bits. I'm officially addicted. When I gave some to my mom to try, she asked why there was still any left! I told her I really had to control myself to not eat the whole bag. Caelyn had 2 bowlfuls of it, and even Hercules (our rabbit, not sure I've mentioned him before) likes them! He nearly jumped up on the couch to try and steal Caelyn's out of the bowl.

And that's about it. This week is going to be a little weird, I have to fit in cleaning and laundry and last-minute trip shopping since I will be gone with the Army July 2-4, then again July 6-21. With no internet access. I will have my netbook with me, so I will definitely be keeping a record of all the chaotic insanity that is sure to ensue. And I hereby promise not to drink as much wine as I did last year. What a disaster that was, but that's a whole other story I can't get into right now. Or maybe ever.