Okay, so after almost 24 straight hours of traveling on Wednesday, I'm home. And I've gotten a lot accomplished in the past few days. I've wrapped all my presents, gotten a haircut, packed for Gainesville, bought new shoes, gotten my return-to-work physical for Runways, swum with Holmes Lumber Jax, mailed my grad school writing samples, and even booked a Channel slot (first tide in August 2007, with pilot Eddie Spelling).

And I'm really glad to be home - I'd say it's the highest happy-to-sad percentage I've had in a while. I miss Linde and Christine and Dia all a lot - why do so many of my REAL friends have to live across the ocean? - and I'm constantly reminded by the political happenings and the barrage of rednecks and idiots in the stores that I miss the Dutch people and their practical, liberal attitudes, too. That nagging 'empty' feeling in my gut is definitely there, as always. But I'm very glad to be done at UCU, glad to eat good food again (GREEN salad! :)), glad to be back in warm(er) weather, glad to be back with my books, glad to drive my car again, glad to see the Christmas tree... I'm keeping busy, and I have Christmas goings-on to distract me, and lots of things to look forward to in Gainesville, so the positives certainly outweigh the negatives this time.

Today: mail Flat Stanley back, run 5k, put flannel sheets on my bed, catch up on my e-mail, watch the rest of the taped Commander-In-Chief episodes, and have dinner with my grandparents.

And tomorrow: Christmas!