Holiday

I keep thinking how lucky we are to have made it at all. The day we flew out, 680 flights were cancelled in or out of NYC, and we made it to Oregon with only a four hour delay. The next day we put chains on the rental car and made it driving east on I-84 only two hours before the freeway was closed for three days due to ice and snow and wind. A few days later, and another nearly-cancelled flight, we gave up on flying and rented another car to drive over another mountain and made it with no weather to speak of. Snow, hail, and freezing rain has followed us for two weeks, and yet we have travelled undeterred.

A lot of people didn't make it home to see their families this year because of the uncommonly bad weather, and we could have easily been stalled several times along our way, but we made it. We've had two weeks of gorgeous snow-drifts, cozy fires, family meals, wonderful friends, and good cheer. Usually after a long trip out west ZPJ and I are tired and longing for home, but this year we feel grateful for a laid-back trip with lots of time to just sit back and enjoy the people we miss so much the rest of the year.

But it will be good to fly back in the morning and return to our home and our (almost certainly furious) cats and the people we love in NYC. I feel so lucky to have two coasts that I belong to, both so full of people and places I love and who love me back!