As most people know, extensive travel really disrupts a routine. This has been the story of our lives these past few weeks. Flight from Portland to SF to Tokyo to Bangkok to Phuket to Seoul to SF to Portland to Chicago to Dallas and full-circle to Portland have screwed-up our internal clocks. Fortunately we’re in the digital age so at least my watch always adjusts automatically. In two more weeks it will be additional flying time from Portland to Kapalua to Portland to LaGuardia and back to Portland. That does not include rental cars, Uber, taxis, walking, shuttles, and personal auto mileage that will have also gotten us to the cities of Rochester, Wailea, Lahaina, Argos, Portage, and McMinnville. We will have slept in 8 different beds or not at all! Not to mention, all the various restaurants that we’ve visited, spanning 20 different time zones.

There will not be enough time to get back into a routine during our brief pit stops at home to do laundry. The pets will start to view us as strangers in our own home. Today, we got up at 5a CST and will arrive home at 3p PST. We’ll unpack, sort the mail, load up the washing machine, and walk the dogs, before our 7p bedtime. In the morning at 6a, I’ll run my regular neighborhood 5k course and my wife will reluctantly return to work. Errands, fundraisers, and our wedding anniversary weekend in wine country will quickly move us into next week. 12 days later we’ll be on a plane to Hawaii and lodging at two different resorts. New York City and Broadway Shows will be next on the agenda.

Napping on planes has so far not agreed with me, and today is no exception. I have wide shoulders so I’m constantly bumped into with my aisle seat, and can’t get comfortable in the middle. It was not a direct flight, with the hour layover in Dallas. My “white diet” regimen has been all too often violated, and I’m sure the scale will not be kind. My running schedule has also been inconsistent with too many one-mile minimums and not enough 3.1 mile norms. In addition, American and United Airlines have relatively archaic video systems and no convenient seat-back monitors, so watching movies is not a simple option. Besides, I think I’ve seen all the popular ones, after hours and hours of passenger butt. It does give me time to write in this blog and construct poetic passages. I don’t like getting my laptop out on these flights because it makes me feel even more claustrophobic, so I use the Notebook app on my phone, enabling me to easily transfer my ramblings to the computer at my ever-changing desk.

You have only so many days of life, so long ones should be a plus. Even in retirement, I have not yet lost that tendency to move on to the next. We do get back the three hours we lost on the way East, so today will be 27 hours long, with little sleep. My eyes feel heavy like the rest of me, but they won’t close. Too much chocolate and Diet Coke, two bad habits that I’m better able to control when I finally arrive home and get into a boring but blissful routine. Homebody Haven.