Just got back from an amazing trip to Utah.
Yonder and Teeny graduated from BYU in December, but Dub and I flew back to watch them officially walk in their caps and gowns. We're so proud of them! It was all so great.
There were commencement activities, convocations, dining with fun people, also meeting friends, meeting some returned missionary companions of Sweet Mesquite, hiking in the breath-takingly majestic mountains and enjoying some really great time away relaxing.
But let's be honest. Amazing trips are not real life.
.....
At the risk of sounding whiny, I'll just say that re-entry was, well, in a word: ROUGH.
We climbed into bed just before 2:00 am on Tuesday morning, and three days later I feel like I haven't stopped running. Good thing I'm in such amazing shape. I vow not to be sarcastic if I can possibly help it.
The kids' truck (the truck the kids drive to school, activities and work) died, was towed to the shop and repaired. Twice. In two days.
Sharing a vehicle is tricky when the merger of schedules is not easy or friendly.
I promise I'm not complaining.
The cats pee'd on a sleeping bag that someone left on the floor. I'm guessing it had been there a few days. (Peeing cats usually means that someone is falling down on their job of cleaning the litter box.) When I picked up the sleeping bag, I didn't realize that it had been contaminated. I flipped it up on the couch to find the zipper so that I could fold it up and put it away. That was when the liquid splashed on my clothes and puddled onto the couch. I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't SUPER ANNOYED. Cleaning cat urine off clothing and a wood floor isn't my favorite, but it's not terrible. Washing a sleeping bag and leather couch cushions, however, is TERRIBLE.
Then, to add insult to injury, the cats pee'd somewhere in my VERY messy bedroom closet. Which I discovered as I woke up to teach early morning seminary. (I had a hard time opening my eyes, but wished my sense of smell wasn't so keen) The very unpleasant aroma of cat urine came wafting across the room to me as if to say
"See? You should have just stayed in bed."
My suitcase is still not unpacked. In fact, it isn't even open. Because I don't want it to become another option for a cat toilet.
I think I'm the only person who knows how to clean bathrooms, do laundry and wash dishes, because I'm doing all of those things, but it's like playing wack-a-mole in a life-sized carnival game, where, instead of plastic heads popping out of holes, it's dirty underwear, sweaty workout clothes and pans with stuck on food. And I just can't keep up.
Real life is not gentle, people.
After day one of reality immersion, Dub and I were laying in bed feeling very tired and he whispered "let's just run away."
I should have taken him up on it.
