* sigh * Why does vacation have to end???

So, last week I went on vacation. I was very excited about going, but I didn't say anything about it here because I felt just a bit weary about announcing that my home would be empty for a week, to the entire internet.

I flew down to North Carolina to visit the awesome Meghan and her adorable family. Even though Meghan is busy with a husband and not-quite-two little boy and is even in the middle of growing a whole new human, she picked me up from the airport, welcomed me into her home, and spoiled me rotten for 7 days. I'd never met her before and I was just slightly apprehensive: What if we had nothing to talk about? What if she felt like a stranger? What if she got sick of me being there? Why on earth did I decide to go for SEVEN days?? But that was all for nothing. She is EXACTLY the same as she seems to be on the internet and telephone. I recognized her immediately. I've seen so many pictures of her and her family, and even her dogs, that everyone was already familiar to me. And we talked like we'd been hanging around together forever. We went to the movies, went for walks, she brought me to the local farmer's market, to the local shopping mall, and to the local children's museum. She cooked and served me fabulous food, provided me with my own private suite, and turned me on to Battlestar Galactica.

Meghan is so warm, loving, and generous; Rick is very friendly (and apparently very tolerent of having complete strangers come and take over his home for a week); Xander is a very sweet, very well behaved, very bright little boy, and he's so lucky to have two awesome parents who obviously love him very much and take such good care of him. I had a wonderful vacation. It went by sooooo quickly, and I'm sorry to see it end. We're already talking about me coming back this summer, when I am unemployed and baby River is 'on the outside'.

My parents picked me up from the airport tonight. I'm staying at their place tonight, and I'm looking forward to going home tomorrow to see my boy (who spent this past week on a road trip with his dad) and my poor lonely cat (who had a cat-sitter check in on her every day while I was gone).