On Christmas Eve, I will be making the long drive from the Lone Star State, back to my wife and kids in Kansas. The 750 mile (1,200 km) trek will take approximately 12 hours to complete; depending, of course upon traffic, weather conditions and the maximum capacity of my bladder.
Regular readers of this blog may remember that I have recently taken a job in Houston, while the rest of my family remains in the Sunflower State. My two children are finishing up their final years of Elementary and Middle school, while the wife and I try and figure out where we will all be landing come summer-time. She has a new job as well, and this is been the longest we have been apart since before we were married. You might describe this as a bit of a stressful period… and you would be right!
On the plus side of things, this will be the first Christmas in like, ever, that I have completed all of my shopping before Christmas Eve. The price of gas is down, so I will not need to take out a second mortgage (if I could find one) to pay for fuel. I have my iPhone all loaded up with geeky music (Thanks Z!) and podcasts that I need to catch up on. And it looks as if there should not be much, if any, frozen precipitation along my intended route. I have been checking for updates from a half-dozen weather websites, every half-hour or so for the past three days. Yeah, I am that guy.
I hope to get into town just in time to see my kids in the church Christmas pageant. I just found out that my daughter is playing Mary this year (and I will try to not be a gloating stage dad!) My son will be making his pageant debut as a shepherd. He has never shown much interest in pageants before, but he told me during a recent phone call that he thinks that his costume is cool. I secretly hope that his robe will be something Jedi-esque looking, but I probably should not share this thought with GeekMom. (Hey, does she read this blog?)
Okay, so I am a little excited about this trip. There is one thing I am dreading however. It is that after only getting to spend three days at home with the family, I will have to turn around and drive back to Houston alone. I suspect that that drive will be the longest drive of all..
Are there any readers out there who are gearing up for a long holiday trip home? How about parents who cannot be home with their kids due to military deployment, work commitment or other circumstance? Please feel free to share your stories in the comments section below.
