solo road trip day #8: the journey home

so I'm back in Boulder!

Yesterday I completed the solo road trip by driving 435 miles from Santa Fe to Boulder in 6.75 hours. The day started with a lovely breakast at my B&B followed by a little reading in my room followed by a 1 hour massage. heaven. walking out of there, I was a little woozy, so I took myself to Trader Joe's (oh I miss my TJs) and got some snacks for later (yay for TJs brand of TastyBite, jasmine green tea, and papadum chips) and a kombucha from Pharmaca. I filled up the car (even though I could have gone another 250 miles without a refill) since I needed a little bit of time and space after the massage before getting on the highway.

I left at noon and drove and drove and drove through mountains and prairies and mountains again. The roads were once again eerily empty. I stopped after 4 hours for a snack at Cracker Barrel (fried okra, turnip greens, greenbeans and a big glass of milk)...I do love me some southern style greens. Back on the road, massive yucky construction rush hour traffic in Colorado Springs, but even with that delay I was parked at Dolly's by 6:40. I got home, nobody was there, so I showered the road grime off, called my parents, sent a hello text, and sat down for 2 minutes when Dolly and Adam came home. Dolly's first words to me were something like "oh my god, you're so clear! you're glowing!" crazy, eh?

The trip was amazing. I feel so...myself. I feel integrated and whole and connected and happy. I seriously need to do this more often than once in a lifetime. I'm not sure solitary retreats are for me, but solo road trips sure are.

so I'm back, I went to my therapist this morning and then I went to work. I tried really hard to do work and was pretty successful until mid-afternoon when the bordom kicked in. holy crap do I miss having the teachers and students around. I miss the activity and the challenge. I'm sure this is good for me...the gap of summer helps me appreciate the school year all the more. If I never had the gap, I'd probably eventually get burnt out and resentful and not enjoy the crazy, busy, full, rich worklife. So the gap of summer is good. I just wish it wasn't so freakin' long! ;) well, it gives me time to solo road trip and group road trip (i've got some maybes) and to travel to Boston in June to see the BFF and to have time connect with old and new friends. so maybe summer isn't so bad, afterall.