It occurred to me today that there’s something about coming home.

Today was the last day of our summer vacation, and since it’s over, I can now safely talk about it on social media –> since we normally try to avoid broadcasting to the world that our house is unoccupied while it is, in fact, unoccupied. And, even though I can only think of a few people who regularly read my posts, and most of them would have been aware that we were out of town, I told my wife that I would restrain from telling about our adventures while we were still in the midst of them.

This particular vacation was two weeks long, the longest vacation that we’ve ever taken before. We went with another family, also something that we’ve never done before, and we stayed in rented homes, rather than in our camper (which is what we would normally do on a family vacation in the summer). So, needless to say, this vacation was unlike any other we’ve ever had.

And, to further alter the landscape of our family vacation this year, from what it would normally look like, I’d like to introduce –> COVID-19. Our family vacations are normally a combination of relaxing and seeing the sights, but we tried to ‘unpeople’ as much as possible on our trip, which resulted in more relaxing and just hanging out in the houses that we’d rented (three houses in fourteen days). With the pleasant company of family and friends, just hanging out with each other, passing the time in restful, low-stress ways, we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit, with less of an agenda than we might normally have.

Of course, the vacation had its ups and downs. We had some automotive trouble on the way to our first destination, but thanks to our regular mechanic and a trustworthy mechanic that we found near the first house that we rented (thanks to Kevin and the team at Express Lube and Inspection in Baytown, Texas), we ended up getting a solid repair in a decent timeframe for a great price. We also had some problems with swimmer’s ear (a bacterial infection of the outer ear, commonly contracted when water gets in the ear and then doesn’t drain back out) for three of the four kids on the vacation, which involved a antibiotic ear drop prescription called in for us by our pediatrician. But, even when things went wrong on our journey, we found ways to make things work and to get the problems solved.

Additionally, renting houses is an interesting experience that we were largely unfamiliar with before this vacation began. We discovered that you can rent very nice houses for pretty decent prices, but each house rental situation is a little bit different and none of them quite live up to all of your expectations. This one might have a lousy kitchen, while the other one has a great kitchen with lousy bedrooms, even while the third one has a decent kitchen and decent bedrooms in a lousy neighborhood, just as an example.

Of course, we were able to stay in each of these three houses for long enough so that we became familiar with where to find the measuring cups in the kitchen or the extra blankets in the hall closet. But, each of the houses that we rented had certain oddities that seemed to serve to remind each of us that we weren’t in our own homes. Who would put the laundry detergent in a kitchen cabinet?!?! Why is there a switch for turning on an electrical outlet?!?! What kind of a recliner swivels?!?! Why isn’t there a towel rack within fifteen miles of the shower?!?!

When things aren’t set up the way that you would have them set up, it gets on your nerves. And then, after living in a rental house where you finally get things figured out, having to move to another rental house, with more mysteries to solve, is just a little more aggravating. And then, after a few more days, another relocation. After a while, you just want to go home so you can find the coffee filters without having to search for them.

They say that home is where the heart is, but I’m pretty sure that home is the place where you know where to look to find things.

Without fail, I have always neared the end of vacations, thinking to myself, “I think I am ready to head for home.” In situations where I haven’t been enjoying myself, that thought might enter my head days in advance of the end of the vacation. This time, I only really thought that it was time to head home relatively recently. Nevertheless, I woke up this morning in a bed that I don’t own and thought to myself, “Tonight, I will sleep in my own bed.”

It is great to be back in the place where I am always going to be most comfortable. Getting away on a vacation means getting away from home, and that might be necessary sometimes –especially when we sometimes feel like we can’t be in our home without having a list of things that need to get done– but I don’t think I can ever be as comfortable in some other home as I can be in mine.

Don’t get me wrong; it was a great vacation. But, that’s the thing about vacations –> they can’t last forever. My daughters, this evening, were sad when we arrived home because it meant that the vacation was over and my wife and I consoled them to try to help them feel better about the eventuality that they’d apparently not considered until it was right upon them –> vacations end. The return to life as we knew it before our vacation began is now upon us.

I suppose I will be sad to not have a pool within six feet of my back door, or a beautiful mountain range to watch the sun setting on, or a beautiful college neighborhood for my morning jogs, but I will be glad to be back in the place where I know where the paprika is.