Ping Pong thoughts from back at home

We’re back, and my brain is a jumbled mess of planning for the few weeks, preparing for the new school year, and looking back on how much fun we had this summer. Please excuse the lack of direction in this post.

Living on the west coast, we always fly east, and lose time, to go somewhere and fly west, and gain time, coming home. Hawaii is the only place where we fly east, taking the longer flight out and gaining time on the way there, and then fly west going home, with a shorter flight, but losing hours. I was very struck by how weird it was to be behind our normal time on vacation and to come home with it feeling earlier than it was. Very, very weird.

I’ve recently started listening to English-language audiobooks at 1.25x or 1.5x and I really felt like our Hawaii trip had a 1.25x vibe. It was our longest trip to Maui and yet it felt like it went faster than any of the others. I wonder if that’s because we feel so at home there now, and there isn’t any of that traveling-induced friction that makes you hyper aware of every moment when you’re away from home. We feel comfortable in the house, and know the island really well. We also know what it’s like to share space with this particular group of friends in this setting. The whole thing is just so easy, and I think that makes time feel fast on that trip. I’m really glad we were there for so long. We’re so lucky to have the opportunity to go somewhere so amazing, but have it be so affordable. The reality is we would have to save up for years to afford a week in Hawaii by ourselves, so I never take for granted that we’re able to go like this.

This was our first “issue-free” trip to Hawaii. No one was (knowingly) exposed to Covid before we left, the cats did not (literally) lose their shit, and we even flew home without any day-long delays or long stints on the tarmac. We’re finally out of the cycle of Alaska messing stuff up and then giving us credits so that we ultimately buy flights with them again. Hooray! No more Alaska Airlines for us! I think in the future we’ll be flying Hawaiian Airlines to Maui. We really liked them on our flight back home.

That is, if we get to go to Maui again. That trip is predicated on our friends being able to get the house, and then inviting us. As long as those two things happen, we’ll probably keep going.

Our flight was pushed back, which ended up being nice because we didn’t have to rush to leave the house. We were home by 10pm, which was late, but for us it felt like 7pm so it wasn’t so bad. The kids both have camp today. Our daughter struggled to get up, but it was for a camp she really wanted to attend (Ceramics and the California College of Art) so while getting ready was grumbly, she was in good spirits when I dropped her off.

The 10yo has a half day camp down at my school this week. I’ll be working in my classroom while he does some STEM stuff. He’s not thrilled about it, but he really struggles with long, unstructured days so he’s going! Luckily they both start school a little later than we anticipated, and get all of next week off before going back.

I start back (with staff days) next Thursday and Friday. I can’t really believe that, and I’m glad I have half days in my room this week to get my in the correct mindset. I’m also glad I have three days of nothing next week before I have to be back in staff meetings. Ugh, I hate district-mandated professional development.

But before anyone goes back to school, we get to see Chappell Roan at Outside Lands! My wristband came in the mail and I’m so excited. My husband and daughter are going, as well as my friend and her daughter. It’s going to be so much fun! I can’t wait! I’m also really curious to go to a giant music festival. It’s been years (maybe a decade!?) since I’ve been to any kind of giant concert, so I’m definitely interested to see what they are like nowadays.

I started this post yesterday and I’m going to post it now, so I can get back to unpacking everyone’s luggage and storing everything away. I have to admit, after so much travel it’s a relief to pack it all away knowing that we won’t be using it again for a while. I don’t know why packing and unpacking is so stressful for me – others seem to manage it fine – but it is and it makes the bittersweet quality of the August a little sweeter. I can’t wait to have all the packing cubes and luggage put away.