I've been out in Alberta speaking for the last two weeks, and returned home at 1:00 this morning, to find that my husband and girls had cleaned the whole house for me. I think I'll keep them.
So as I'm getting back to my real life, here are some of the things that hit me:
1. Why can't life ever just stop for a bit?
I'm away for two weeks, but the emails don't stop coming. Now I have to spend at least a day taking care of them all. It would be nice if other people stuck to your schedule, but they don't seem to. And sometimes going away makes more work when you return!
2. Sometimes it's fun to have "another" life
It can be really fun on the road, meeting new people, and just feeling like a different person. At home I'm supervising homeschooling, and schedules, and chauffeuring, and volunteering at church, and cooking, and doing laundry, and on the road I don't have to do any of that. I get to speak, and do some TV and radio appearances, and people tell me how great I am.
It's loads of laughter, but it's not REAL, if you know what I mean (I am great, of course, but I don't need to be told it all the time). But I really do understand why so many women find it hard to give up careers. I have a very strange career, in that I speak and write. Every now and then I'm away from home, but usually I'm here, plugging away, just like everybody else does. But when you're gone and you're able to use your gifts in another way, it is a little intoxicating.
One thing that I really appreciated, though, was that my family flew out to Alberta and actually saw two shows. It was the first time Keith had seen me speak in my usual "venue"--to women--rather than just at the marriage conferences when we speak together. And that was awesome. It was also great because on that particular night when this picture was taken my oldest daughter did my eye makeup, and she is way better at eye makeup than I am.
But that's beside the point. It was neat to combine my two lives, and have them see who I am up on stage, but also have me not get too full of myself or too comfortable away from them. So I'm glad they came. I didn't announce on the blog or on Facebook when they were there, because I didn't want to put up a big sign online that said, "my house is now empty!", but they did fly out last week.
3. Boston Pizza has really awful food.
I'm sorry if you're a Boston Pizza fan, but it really is lousy. We usually didn't eat until 11 at night, after the shows, and BP was the only thing open. I ate through the menu and still didn't find anything I liked. Except the dessert.
4. The Winnipeg airport is boring.
It just is. And the internet is hard to get onto. So don't ever have a stopover in Winnipeg if you can help it.
5. I missed my crockpot.
I like having homecooked meals. I know we women just love the idea of being taken out for dinner, but it's amazing how when you eat out for ten days straight all you can do is dream of vegetables and a crockpot. I'm going to put dinner in mine as soon as I hit send on this post.
6. There's no place like home.
I love being back, even though it's not nearly as exciting. But sometimes not exciting is very, very good. Last night, when I tiptoed into the girls' bedrooms and kissed their foreheads, everything felt right with the world again. And tonight I get to have a date with my hubby!
I'm working on developing a new event when I come into churches and talk to women about marriage and s-e-x. It'll be fun, upbeat, but also have some very practical and challenging teaching. So I may be on the road a lot more in the next few years. But each time I am, it will remind me how great it is to be back again!
And now I'm home for a few weeks, before I have to leave for just a weekend again, and I am going to enjoy it.
Lol! On the BPs note, sometimes you get a really good chef. But most of the time it's mediocre. If I had to eat there every day for a couple weeks I would think it's lousy too. There are two BPs near me, one has better food than the other. But still wouldn't want to eat it every night.
About Me: I'm a Christian author of a bunch of books, and a frequent speaker to women's groups and marriage conferences. Best of all, I love homeschooling my daughters, Rebecca and Katie. And I love to knit. Preferably simultaneously.
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