Homesick Part 2: On the Mend

Simon and I with the pugs the morning we moved to Flagstaff, AZ

I just want to start out by thanking everyone for your really nice comments to my last post.  That really meant a lot, and made me feel a lot better about how I was feeling.  I had actually debated for a few days about posting it at all, afraid that too many people would be offended and think I was pointing fingers at them whilst shouting, "You never come visit me!"  That wasn't my intent at all, so if you were put out by what I had written, I apologize...I truly meant nothing negative towards anyone in what I wrote.  I've found that expressing myself through writing is one of the best ways for me to process these thoughts that are bouncing around in my head.  And sometimes seeing things written out and rereading them over and over again helps to clarify what I'm feeling.  It also gives me ideas and helps me to determine what steps I need to take in order to work towards implementing change.

Christina, Mike, and Simon at the Weiner Dog Wars in Shakopee, MN

Simon and I have been talking about this a lot lately...more for my benefit than for his.  He's pretty laid back about just about everything, while I'm the one wringing my hands worrying about how we're going to fit everything in, what everyone in our lives is going to think, and how we're going to deal with hurt feelings along the way.  I think Simon has a better grasp of the concept "The way things are is the way things are."  Whereas I'm more likely to be like "The way things are stinks."  Did anyone get my reference to the movie Babe right there?  No?  So there's this conversation going on between a cow and a duck, and they're talking about how people eat animals.  The duck is upset because the people are eating one of his friends, while the cow has resigned herself to her lot in life.  A little morbid, really.  Anyway, it's probably one of those things you'd have to see...assuming you like movies about talking animals.  Babe ranks up there as one of my all-time favorites.  I loved it so much, in fact, that my friend Heather and I used to play one of the songs from Babe on our radio show back in college.  Thank you, Heather, for humoring me.

Simon and his niece Valerie

 So that got way off track, didn't it?  I'm obviously feeling better, as I realized in hindsight that my previous blog had little to none of my typical humor and self-deprecation.  It's good to be back.

So Simon and I have some ideas, and I'm hopeful that they'll meet the needs of our friends and families...and ourselves, of course. Obviously we can't have everything, which is ultimately what I want, but it'll have to do.  We're thinking that something along the lines of longer trips to Minnesota less often is going to be our best bet.  Last year Simon and I flew to Minnesota a total of 6 times between the two of us...four trips together, 2 trips separately.  Taking into account that our work responsibilities restrict us to about one trip a month, that means we spent half the year working around trips to the same destination.  And I was happy to do it.  I was happy to see friends and family back home, but there were also a lot of other places and people that I had wanted to see who just didn't make the cut.  If we could taper down the Minnesota trips to twice a year, that would free up some time to get to some of the places and people we haven't seen...or to just hang out here in Arizona and have people out to visit.

Simon and I at the Olympic Torch in Vancouver, B.C.

All of this can change tomorrow, of course, but given my gripes about spending quality time with friends and family versus spending quality time out here, this seems to be the best option.  That option also frees up time for us to take one or two international trips a year, which is one of our goals starting this summer.  Of course, this summer we're going back to Vancouver, but instead of staying in the city the entire time, we're going to hopefully find our way up to Whistler to spend a few days running around up there.  I hear that mountain biking there in the summer is pretty epic, so we're really looking forward to that trip.  We've pushed our Iceland and our Thailand trips to 2016...they're just not in the cards this year with all the other trips we have planned.  And pushing them back gives us more time to save up...flights to both of those destinations are pretty pricey.

Ellen and I at the Syndey Zoo in Sydney, Australia

Speaking of which, I need to renew my passport before the trip this summer.  Finally!!  I can get rid of the ugliest picture of me in existence.  For real.  I'm truly not one of those people who criticize every photo of myself, but my passport photo is the worst.  The. Worst.  I'm actually surprised they let me into foreign countries with that thing.

My favorite picture of Franko and Charlotte at Smokey Hollow Lake in Minnesota

It's funny how stressful traveling for fun can really be.  There's all the planning, the coordinating, lining up a reputable dog sitter, making sure we've got all our hours in and hopefully enough PTO to cover the days we'll be gone...and the expense, of course...always the expense.  Each trip we take is book-ended by a considerable amount of stress, and hopefully traveling less often will help alleviate some of that.

Ellen and I in the Daintree Rainforest near Port Douglas, Australia

I wish there were like 5 of me who all shared the same brain, so I could be in multiple places simultaneously, and be able to collectively enjoy each experience.  Wouldn't that be cool?  I could be holding a friend's baby whilst hanging out on a lake in Minnesota, catching the northern lights in Iceland, drinking a beer in Portland, chasing a friend's chickens around in Arkansas, and watching the humpbacks roll through coastal California...all at the same time.  That's what I want.  Let's work on that.  Sounds like something out of one of Simon's science fiction books.  Maybe someday.  :)