Crossed the border without incident Thursday afternoon and spent the night in downtown Regina with intentions to get to bed early and make the last leg of the journey home as early in the morning as possible.

Regina is unremarkable. A big enough city whose middle has been thoroughly soaked in the urine of the homeless and definitely not a place we are considering as the ultimate in root planting for ourselves. In fact aside from Lice Widow, Rob’s next younger sister, the family has mostly endeavored to escape this place.

MIL, Rob’s mother, got away multiple times but only recently appears to have freed herself for good.

Regina is still 8 hours from home and we have decided that there will be no more trips above three hours again for some time. In fact, vacationing in our own home sounds best to me. I can completely live with lazy weekends that start with lounging in bed while BabyDaughter pours her own cereal and milk (she enjoys this really – no child abuse is involved) and then wandering from kitchen to dining room in robes until lunch. A heavenly holiday plan. Really. Try it some time.

There is still one more family visit to get through but this one is coming to us. Next week. Early. I am serene as long as I can get to the gym and sleep in my own bed.

After that (knocking with crossed fingers on wood), it will be just summer and us, snug as bugs in our own little rug of a home.

I feel a bit – not guilty – but certainly freakish for not missing my family or Iowa when I am away from it. But I have always been this way. Carrying attachments to places is a gene I was born without. Worse, I don’t really miss people either. I mean not the way that everyone else seems to miss loved ones, family and friends. I love to hear from them. I like to visit. But I am not discomforted by the time apart even when that has meant years.

I had discussed the place issue with Rob before but not the people. He didn’t seem shocked and then admitted that he is the same way about not missing people. He just hadn’t wanted to say that.

It’s a good thing we have found each other.

So, the next post will be from home. MiddleKid has been keeping house in our absence. I am a bit worried about her as she hasn’t been recovering from the virus that felled Rob for much of our “holiday” and has the same “thing” about doctors and medicine that Rob has. This is to say – neither of them believes that any illness short of collapse requires a trip to the doctor. Hopefully she will be better than when her father last heard from her.

Thanks gentle readers for all your support during this trip. It was much appreciated.