This is an entry that has been months in the making. That was not a conscious decision, by any means. Although I did intend to allow ample time for contemplation, I’ll admit that life off the road has been every bit as consuming as I hoped it would not be. Does that make sense?

First, there was some tough news from Mike’s (now former) employer. Back in Utah, we started to get clues that they were not going to honor their promise to welcome him back. We ultimately cut our trip short by a few weeks in an attempt to save the job that he loved—to no avail. Did I mention that they also threw out our house plants? Bastards.

We then dealt with the not totally unexpected by-products of leaving a home unoccupied for several months—the most dramatic of which required the ripping up and reinstallation of several square feet of ceramic tile. No biggie, but time consuming nonetheless.

My employer and colleagues were thrilled to have me back. I can’t say enough good things about these fine people. Without their unwavering support NONE of this would have been possible. Still and all, the process of getting “back in the saddle” ate up weeks of time and laid waste to 10 months of good intentions and resolutions.

And yet, several weeks later we are still left with the feeling that we have been very lucky. Mike has found a new job that we hope will be even better than the last. Our neighbors, friends and family have welcomed us home and (mostly) not begrudged us our adventure. We learned important lessons about the differences between what we want and what we need—and came away from our experience convinced that we have more than enough. So much, in fact, that we decided to share our lives with a 5 year old Blue Heeler by the name of Charlie.