California or Bust!

Our journey began at about 6 a.m. yesterday in Idaho, and it ended at about 11:30 p.m. in California. After five hours of driving, three different planes in four different states, we finally made it. Our trip reminds me a little of the 1980s movie, "Planes, Trains & Automobiles." It was a long day, but I would do anything to get home for Christmas. (It's also why I didn't put a new post up yesterday!)


I was surprised at how few people were at the airports. I expected the five days before Christmas to be extra busy. My guess is that due to the economy, people are either just staying where they are or they're driving. Oh, and for your information, if your flight has a major delay (one of our connections was delayed nearly two hours, making our already long layover a total of five hours long), Southwest will try and get you seats on a different plane at no extra charge. Very nice. 


I saw all sorts of people traveling yesterday, but what made me sad was to see children traveling alone. They were obviously shuttling between their divorced parents. What a lousy way to spend the holidays--divided between two people you love. I actually can sympathize now that I'm married. We have to divide our holidays between my parents and my hubby's folks! But at least that's sharing more love, not less.


It's also amazing how coming home after a long separation feels so oddly same. Change in this life is the only constant, but my hometown always feels the same. Over the years new housing developments have popped up, old theaters have been torn down, empty fields have become strip malls, and yet it all has the same feel. I know someday my parents won't live in the same house anymore, either because they finally moved or they passed away, and I wonder if I will ever feel this "same old home" feeling again after that happens. I suppose age and time are the only ways to find out.


I am a big advocate of teenagers and young adults leaving home for a time, either for college or a mission, preferably at least one state away. It is amazing how your perspective changes with just a little distance from everything you experienced while growing up. There are new friends to make, new foods to try, different lifestyles to consider, new philosophies to embrace, all because someone decides to leave home for a while. (By "different lifestyles" I mean the difference between a super-organized home, for example, and a less organized, more spontaneous one--not experimenting sexually or anything like that.) It also aids the parent-child separation process, a catalyst for helping that relationship evolve into more of an adult-adult relationship. (Of course our parents will always be our parents, no matter how much they respect us and see how we've become independent adults.)


Getting back to our Christmas vacation... For my baby, his grandma's house is completely new--we've been away for four months, and at his age that's plenty of time to forget! It's been babyproofed and all decked out for a toddler's pleasures. He has all sorts of new toys to play with, a house to explore, and a dog to chase around. And I'll be glad of a break--his grandparents will play with and entertain him every minute they get, to soak up as much baby time as possible.


In the future, we might not be able to spend so much time together during the holidays. Once my husband settles on a career and finds a good, steady job, I'm sure his vacation time will be a lot more constricted compared to that of a college student. So for now, I am grateful for the time we have, and I will do my best to enjoy every minute and soak up every beam of California sun that I can!