Welcome home

Thanks for checking back.

I am back home after two weeks away. It was a trip to Lemon Grove, California to help remodel a home for some friends in anticipation of the arrival of their new baby Annabelle. For those of you who know Matt and Holly (and even those that don't), I hope you followed the story at annabellescircle.blogspot.com. It really was an amazing experience.

The wife and I have headed down to California a number of times to see our good friends, but this trip was different in a lot of ways. We traveled separately, as I headed down almost a week ahead of her, and stayed a few days beyond. We were there to work, so there was no beach time, but we still spent time with friends (most often with tools in our hands). My wedding ring was off for two weeks, as I don't like working construction with it on. It sat safely in my backpack until the flight home yesterday.

The wife and I were also apart on my birthday. Not a big deal to me as I am not big on celebrating it, but I'm sure she would have liked to have remained in California with me. I spent a nice evening with Matt, Holly and some other friends relaxing on the new deck.

I lived a bit of the life of a vagabond during the project. Each night around 8:00 as the sun was setting and the headlamps were coming on, someone would ask "so, where are you sleeping tonight?" I wanted to stay near the project in order to get an early start each morning. I was able to stay at the house most nights either in a bed or in a sleeping bag inside or on the deck, but I also stayed with my brother in San Diego and with the other Sean in Oceanside. My luggage sat in the back yard and I would load my backpack with the essentials for the next day.

I arrived home last night around 10:30, gave the pooch a good scrubbing, paid the bills that stacked up while I was gone, then fell into bed and a deep sleep. This morning I cut my hair and shaved off the drifter's beard I grew over the last two weeks. After showering in our wonderfully soft water, I began to feel clean again. The last couple weeks felt a bit like camping - you're never really clean, just a little less dirty at times. For those that know me, living outside for two weeks is a treat. Scraping off the dust when it is all over still feels pretty nice though.

Then it was off to the DMV (explained later), then to work and the 500 or so e-mails to plow through. Glad my work week is only one day long. I have some catching up to do.