The end of a vacation is always a bitter sweet experience.
One one side, you are sad that the trip is coming to a close. You will miss the food and the clean sheets and the lack of job responsibility. No more will someone come tidy your room daily or bring you drinks and fresh towels and greet you with smiles. On the other side, you miss your life – all its glory and chaos and messiness and stress – because its YOURS.
Today, I am tired. I am kind of ready to go home. Its not really the cruise that made me tired its just the effort it takes to get to and from your island paradise. I always dread the flight/ride/sail home because I reach the point where I am ready to be home and its such a daunting process to finally get there. Especially on a cruise ship – on the last day, you feel like refugees. The rooms are closed, the shops dark. the buffet is minimal and limited, the ship has specific areas to sit in. We wait in groups to be released, like prisoners really and go through a warehouse of a mess to search and rescue our luggage. Customs is usually an easy process but you still feel like you are an immigrant.
Jayde and I waited for the Thrifty shuttle, which was only about 15 minutes. We rode in a nice air conditioned bus and when to pick up our Ford Focus (thank goodness, no boat). We drove the 40 minutes back to MCO – in which I got lost in the airport, missed the gas station and cussed a TON through all of that. I think Jayde might have been laughing at me but I cant be sure. Anyway, our flight didnt leave until 3:30 and we got to the airport at 11:30 so we had a LONG time to wait. Thankfully MCO is awesome and had tons of places to shop and eat.
Our flight was on time, diverted through storms and arrived at our home airport 15 minutes or so later than planned. Did I mention I was tired?
I went home and collapsed on the couch (after putting away all my clothing, of course). I was SO thankful that we decided to return on a Friday, even though Jayde very much wanted to stay to go to Harry Potter themepark. Gosh, to be honest, I did too!
Home. It smells of vanilla candles and doggies. Its where my Jayde lives and sleeps and wakes and cries and wreaks havoc. I wonder what home means when our children leave it, as they are so very much what defines it in the first place….
