I’m home again.

I realize that’s not earth shattering news to anyone. But I sure am glad to be home again.

I’ve been totally out of the loop over the last few days. I tried to get online when I got home and found that comcast was down due to a pretty nasty storm. So, I had to actually do some other things and wait until about an hour ago to resume my blogging addiction.

Life can be cruel like that!

This trip was a combination business/vacation trip. Every other vacation type trip we had planned for this summer fell through for one reason or the other. So my Beloved Curmudgeon decided since he had to go to northern Indiana for business, we should leave early and spend the weekend in Michigan on the St. Clair River. We enjoy going there ordinarily and we thought it would be relaxing and a nice, though short, get away.

We were wrong.

I’ll pass along some of the things I learned, or was reminded of, on this trip on the off-chance my experience may serve as a cautionary tale for someone else considering doing such a thing.

  • Spending a long weekend in an uncomfortable truck driving (bone jarring bouncing really) seemingly endless miles can and probably will result in a couple becoming irritable. There is a distinct posibility that the level of irritability is directly proportional to the number of miles driven … in the pouring rain. There is a definite probability that once the irritability reaches critical mass the couple will start focusing it on each other.
  • Driving 1,000 miles to sit in a cottage on a river with in-laws (whom I like very much - for the record) and lots of wet long-haired dogs for a day and a half while it pours rain outside is not relaxing.
  • Spending a day driving to northern Indiana so we can swing by there to take care of some business on Monday morning on the way home is not ON THE WAY HOME!
  • There is an unwritten law that anything that might be physically wrong with you will decide to flare up as soon as you are out of town. For example, if you have a tooth that is fixing to need a root canal, it will let you know that it needs a root canal the minute you leave town and are in a position that you can not attend to it for several days. Another example might be that if you have had a badly sprained ankle in the last couple of months, deciding to walk in flip-flops on an uneven surface into ‘town’ to shop is NOT a good idea and will result in the ankle hurting again and swelling back up a little.
  • Grabbing a few DVD movies as we walked out of the door to take along was one of the best ideas I had and did help pass a few of the endless hours in the truck. I made a note to myself to remember to do that anytime we take a car trip again. Please note I said CAR trip - there will not be another TRUCK trip.
  • A ‘vacation’ riding in a bouncy truck for 4 days, in the rain, with a tooth ache leads to one becoming irrationally irritable and thinking of dropping the Beloved off Beloved Curmudgeon permanently. His irritability was even more irrational as I’m absolutely certain there was nothing I might have done to deserve it (angelic smile).
  • The traffic jam in downtown Detroit at 2 in the morning after 14 hours of driving/riding/bouncing in that @*$#@&# truck really wasn’t your spouces fault. Neither was the traffic back-up in Indianapolis on the way back. So take a deep breath and let it go.
  • After all that, it sure is nice to walk into your own home, knowing your own bed is there just waiting for you to crawl into it and finally get a good nights sleep. Until you notice your dogs have chewed up a throw rug in the den and are running around excitedly in circles demanding attention cause they are so happy to see their daddy home (they ignore me unless he’s not here and they want treats or food).
  • Lastly, ignoring all the mess in the house and washing away the road dirt in a long hot shower helps cleanse the mind of any lingering nasty little, not quite homicidal thoughts swirling around in the brain while bouncing down the endless miles of the expressway in the pouring rain.

Best of all, now my Beloved Curmudgeon is making sure he is earning credits to make up for this ill-conceived notion of ‘why don’t you go with me and we’ll make a long weekend out of it and go to the cottage and just swing by Indiana on the way back home.’

All’s well that ends well ….

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Previous posts on marital bliss: