January 3, 2022

Christmas travels pt.3 (final thoughts)

Part 1, Part 2

Truthfully, Christmas break wasn't entirely relaxing. 

Wells came down with a cold two days in, and then I had it a few days later. 

There were no fevers to be had so we persevered onward. (The day we returned home, Wells did wake up feverish but I don't know if it was an actual fever. I've done research lately about how fevers actually start at 102, so I try not to give him meds unless he seems truly uncomfortable and miserable. Anyway...)

Scott spent all of break working: Physical labor, remodeling work, packing up his dad's house. Our plan is to rent it out in a few months. He's a perfectionist and insisted on painting (i helped, i swear), replacing multiple appliances, replacing the hot water heater, replacing the kitchen floor, and part of the porch needed to be replaced/fixed. I think I saw him for about 12 hours total over 2 weeks and Wells saw him mostly over Facetime, unfortunately. Scott also kept the dogs with him because "where you go, I will follow" is their motto and they're not referring to me. 

Wells did get an enormous amount of time with both sets of grandparents, which is why I do all this in the first place. He got to play with his cousin and see his aunts and uncles. Since we will likely never permanently reside in PA again, this is what we do to make sure he spends time with family. It's, honestly, this unmentioned sacrifice that military kids have to make and I've really seen that with my own class this year (the constant traveling they need to do and the time away from extended family).

I did get a few odd questions while home, so I'll answer them here in case you're curious as well:

Why didn't you just fly here? (Why don't YOU fly somewhere?)

Why would I attempt to pack up everything and get on a plane only to deal with delays and not having a car and everything.that.goes.along.with.air.travel with a 3 year old by myself? Scott would still have to drive with the dogs! We needed our truck and our trailer for the above-mentioned projects. PLUS, either of our parents live 1-3 hours from an airport. And we live 2 hours from an airport. That's 5 hours of driving time alone. 

How do you like living in Misery? (ha ha "Mis"souri, get it?)

Um, Missouri isn't the ends of the Earth. I would trade in the occasional tornado warning for living under the constant daily threat of wind and fire as we did in Colorado. Plus, I don't want to live in Pennsylvania for a multitude of reasons that I don't need to list out here. 

When all was said and done, it was lots of Tetris-like packing, lots of trying to remember where everything was packed in case I needed it, lots of trying to remember to drink water, and lots of trying to remember all the things I had to do when I returned home. I think I said this a few weeks ago: I do not want to live in Pittsburgh again, but a 2.5 hour drive home seemed like an absolute dream in comparison to what we were dealing with this year. However, looking at the good: it was not a 27 hour drive back to Colorado. That was a rough year. 

Scott and the dogs returned to Missouri at about 3am on January 1st. Him being two days behind me and Wells did give me a chance to clean up the house, sort and put things away, and do some meal planning/prep. 

I also had a chance to clean out the dead mouse from the trap under the stove before it decomposed too much. 

Jett started off New Year's Day by eating a dead rabbit he found outside. 

I found Scott and Wells watching The Waterboy the other night. 

I have my glucose test today. 

Happy New Year to all!



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