1. Fly from Halifax to Philadelphia. For 2.5 hours read Tempest Tost by Roberston Davies and laugh like a drain.
2. Wait in PHL for 45 min for your connecting flight to Seattle. Scarf down a salad with tuna but no dressing. Lament this dearth of dressing. Wait in line for 10 minutes to purchase peanut M&Ms and yogurt covered blueberries, but abandon both when you hear your flight’s boarding has started.
3. Fly from Philly to Seattle. Sleep restlessly for most of the six hour flight. Eat a massive cinnamon bun, a bag of Chex Mix, and a very limited 100 calorie Pepperidge Farm cookie snack pack. Read more Robertson Davies. Doze.
4. Feel like a creeper, because as you try to look out the window – to watch the beautiful night lights as you descend into Seatac – you realize that you are leaning just a little too close to the man sitting to your left.
5. Exit the plane, and head straight for the Park N’ Fly pick-up station. Embrace the cold as it hits your recycled air drained skin. Breathe deeply.
6. Board the Park N’ Fly shuttle. Bounce along the highway until you reach the parking lot. Decide who will drive the first leg of the excursion home.
7. Pay for 9 days worth of car storage.
8. Settle into the passenger seat. Tell your love that even though it’s 11:30 at night, and you have quite a ways to go just to get home, it still feels like a grand adventure. Also let him know that you will switch as soon as he wants a break.
9. Get on the I-5.
10. Relish in the late-night beauty of it all. Talk little. Feel close.
11. Encounter fog. A lot of it.
12. Pull off for gas. Despair about the fact that the closed gas station doesn’t have a bathroom. Pee in the bushes. Fear that someone is either going to come grab you, or, alternatively, take damning photos of you squatting in the bushes.
13. Get back on the freeway.
14. Start to feel drowsy. Will yourself to stay awake for the sake of your husband. Laugh a little when he tells you that he wants to switch because he too is getting tired.
15. Suggest milkshakes. They will, of course, quell hunger pains, and provide a much needed sugar rush.
16. Feel elated by how excited your husband is about the idea of milkshakes.
17. Take the first exit with fast food signs. Pull into the Wendy’s parking lot. Switch positions, and then drive into the drive-thru. Order a chocolate frosty for you, and a caramel frosty shake for your husband. Wonder what’s the difference between a frosty and frosty shake. Pay.
18. Get back on the freeway. Understand quickly that frostys were not meant to be eaten through a straw. Really flex those sucking muscles.
19. Get to the border. Literally pull up to the first (and only) agent because no one else is there. Answer three questions. Keep driving.
20. Try not to speed like a demon now that you are in your home country and so, so close to your home home.
21. Make a left, and then a right. Push the garage door opener and pull into your parking spot. Grab all your luggage and garbage and head to your front door. Wonder if the Christmas lights have been on all week. Insert your key into the door and greet your adorable cat who is prancing about your feet. Drop everything, pick her up and smother her in pats and kisses.
22. Remark that the house is freezing.
23. Ascend the stairs to your bedroom, jump into the nearest pair of pajamas. Floss and brush your teeth. Realize you left your mouth guard back at your mother’s house.
24. Wash your face.
25. Crawl into an absolutely freezing cold bed. Feel your husband’s arms around you. Tell him that your hair smells like an airplane. Feel his whole body laugh. Smile.
Rant and Roll 
Welcome home! <3
quite the journey… see you soon!
(ps i like the use of 2nd person)
Thanks darling! So excited to see you tomorrow! xx
Ah! You were in Philly! We could have hung out!
Though PHL is one of my most hated places on this Earth. Stupid 9/11 means I am always suspected of being a terrorist and get extra frisking.
Next time, for sure! (45 min in the waiting lounge would probably have made for a pretty crappy hang-out.) I’ll let you know when I have a longer stopover. My husband too is often subjected to extra attention, due to his mixed complexion. Alas, it is what it is.
And HEY!HEY! Are you a dad now? Information, please!
Yep; The Heir is almost 4 weeks old now. I have tried to post a couple times since my 12/12 post/announcement but WordPress kindly deleted my work when I attempted to publish. Probably serves me right for trying to blog from my phone or my wife’s crappy Macbook.
Congratulations!! Also, The Heir is definitely the best baby nickname I’ve yet to come across. BRILLIANT.
Seriously though, HUGE felicitations to you and your lady wife. I hope you are just loving it (and managing to get some sleep too.) xx
Definitely loving it; at least until he interrupted my Downton Abbey viewing the other day. But mostly he sleeps a lot and just hangs out looking at stuff. It is pretty great and I highly recommend it.
Awesome! So glad to hear it. And I’ll definitely keep that in mind.
This makes me so happy! I think we would travel well together, you and I. There still something to savor in the simple joys of a travel day, moments to savor. And I’m so so glad you and Mr. M made it home safely and cozily. Nymeria must have been ecstatic to see you two!!
My heart is happy for you as I read this. Welcome home, you’ve been missed!
I think we would make stellar travel buddies :) Nymeria has been off the chain with the love and cuddles. I’m beginning to think she thought we would never return! It’s utterly heartwarming and hilarious to behold.
Thank you, thank you! I am so happy to be back home (although my heart is always a little dodgy whenever I have to leave family.) It’s people like you that make me feel right as rain! x
That sounds absolutely exhausting. Yet another reason NOT to travel. Welcome back! And Happy New Year!
Thank you! It is so nice to be back. Exhausting yes, but strangely awesome at the same time. (Yet another reason for me to get my head checked?) Hah! x
No. You are one of the rare people who is able to live in the moment and find joy and happiness in the mundane. Really. It’s a gift!
This actually might be one of the greatest things anyone has ever said to me. I am blushing!
I think it’s true, though.
yeah, you mentschund it a time or 3: halifax? i cornfused h with the suburrrb uv V, BC you domicile in/@. (w.minstrrr, i think)… and, H, as in H, N S ??
H, NS is correctomundo!
ammm-eye correct in that ANYwear in NS is “off the beaten path”?
my sister and (no kidding) 6 of her female cousins went to NS in tracing their ancestry some years back.
Well, Halifax and Dartmouth are definitely proper cities (with five universities) but a large percentage of the province is comprised of small towns.
That’s cool about your sis! Did she find out anything of note?
yes. small? town named Minudie (sumtin lak dat), the ancestor(s) lived. i think the story entails Brit. ancestors fleeing the evil(e) fledgling USofA to Canada, as they were Loyalists. someone named, i think, Seaman? spotty details, eh? my sister could fill ya’ in, at length!