road trip!

Two weeks ago I became very tired of the endless non-spring around here and decided to pack up the kids and go visit their cousins in Arizona, where everyone wears shorts and sunscreen and 90 degrees is still not considered warm enough for swimming. We left on Monday, had a fantastic three days, then drove back Friday.
(Pretend there's a graceful segue here.)
So nine years ago I spent a semester studying in London, and at the end of the term I was sitting around with some other students and our travel writing professor discussing an essay assignment on what we had learned as students abroad; and there was this one girl in the group, a really nice, smart girl, who was 19 and had gotten engaged the night before we left, and she started talking about how she never wanted to be without her fiance again. Wherever she went, she wanted them to go together. She got a little teary. That's what she had learned.

Guys, I'm not going to lie, I rolled my eyes SO HARD. Because, seriously? lame.

Anyway, I was thinking about that conversation last week on the drive back from Arizona, because the truth is that even though we had a marvelous time, I missed Christofer. He's my best friend; everything is just more fun when he's there. I think that whenever I go somewhere without him, now.

and I was going to tell him this when I got home, I really was ( am very romantic, you know), but I walked in the door and he ruined it. He had cleaned the entire house, dusted even. Bought us curry for dinner. Written love letters for all of us telling how much he missed us.

so later, instead of saying, Christofer, next time I will wait until you can come with us!, I was all, Chris, while it is true that I would have even more fun traveling with you, I think I'll just continue having a little less fun on my own, because it turns out leaving you here is TOTALLY WORTH IT.