Back to flannels

Just walked a couple of blocks here in Wallingford to the Chevron convenience store for some coffee, and I'm missing my flannel jeans. The cold pierced my legs as if I were wearing bare skin. I am wearing jeans for the first time in a week, but those flannel-lined pants are gonna feel mighty good.

Annie will drop me off at the airport in a while and will re-enter her normal zone at work. I'll be fully back to reality by mid-afternoon. It will feel great to get back and get reacquainted with the doggies, kitties, horses and Bill and Willie. I had a wonderful time, but there's also no place like home.

Getting re-acclimated to routine after a week is always tough----to read all the mail, scan the newspapers, put away the trip clothes, throw stuff in the wash, pull out the souvenirs, hide the Christmas presents. There's a certain amount of weariness because the first moments at home make one feel like a kid in a candy store---all sorts of curiosities and all sorts of choices to make about what to do first.

By tomorrow, however, life will seem really normal again. A list of "must-get-this-done-for-Christmas" will put my mind on a completely different track----decorating, finishing the annual letter, signing the cards and stuffing them back in envelopes, and the baking. Lots to do, and this year I'll be doing it with a new zest.

A mind fully engaged in new sights, sounds and experiences has me refreshed and ready to take on the challenges and the wonderful moments of the season ahead. Heck, I may even stick a Christmas CD on in the car for my trip home from Spokane, providing the car starts. I've been kinda wondering how it's feeling after sitting idle for eight days out in that cold parking lot.

Fingers crossed that it fires up when I turn the key.

I'll drive home smiling about the experience I shared with Annie. When ya go with Annie, you take in everything possible. She's a wonderful trip guide because, like her dad, she studies these things thoroughly. She knows the significance, and she knows where the good travel treats happen to be. We stuff a lot of sight-seeing and activities into our week in Maui, and we both agree that we'll have to return some day.

For now, another return is on my mind, and it's always a good one: home, the cold and those warm flannel jeans.

To Maui and Annie: until next time, Aloha, Shaka and Mahalo!