Homeward Bound

I have booked tickets. I am going home!

I have started traveling with work. The weekend before last I was in Chicago for five days at the Catholic Festival of Faith trying to sell our books. Since it was hugely unattended, I spent a lot of time doing nothing at the convention. Conventions are rather tiring because you work ten to twelve hour days and spend most of it on your feet. You are also repsonsible for setting up the booth (which looks like a mini-bookstore) and tearing it down when the convention is over and packing up all the books and racks to send to the next convention. It was nice that my company paid for my stay and food in a really nice hotel and in my free time I got to see my Auntie Bea, my Uncle Vince and his family, and Father Joe, my mom's priest-friend.

In a few short weeks, I will be traveling again, to LA this time for the LA Religious Education Congress. Apparently we do about $18,000 in sales compared to the $500 we did in Chicago, which means busy, busy, busy. Unfortunately, these six days are during Brandon's spring break. He had decided that he was going to go home during the time I was in LA to visit partially and partially because it is a really rough time with his family right now, especially with his sister who decided to run away in November, the day after her eighteenth birthday. It has been hard for him to be away while all of this is going on with his family. I have to admit, I was a little jealous. Jealous that he was on break when I was going to be gone and jealous that he was going home.

This past weekend, Brandon suggested that we both go to Maryland. We could leave the Friday that classes end and I could take a one-way flight back here on Tuesday in time to leave Wednesday morning for LA. My boss had already given me the go ahead to take some time off before the convention since I would be working right through the weekend, so, given that all lights were green and I found a good ticket price, I decided, YES! I will go home!!

I am way excited. We will be leaving in twenty-three days. Not quite in enough time to celebrate Rachael's second birthday or to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Mrs. O'Knauigan's pub (my mom. . .), but definitely in enough time to catch up and visit since we haven't been home since Thanksgiving. I have already set up my count-down calendar and have begun marking it with big red X's like they do on the expedia.com commercial.

Yesterday I talked to Rachael on the phone, (she must be growing up so much!) and she of course said, "Hi Uncle Baca, where's Brannon at?" I told her he was at school and asked her if she'd like us to come visit her. I guess she thought right that moment because she shouted, "HE'S AT 'COOL!" I let her know it would be a couple weeks and she replied with an emphatic, "Yes!" (This is a rare occurrence because it wasn't until recently that she knew the word yes. Everything was either no - the majority - or repeated, which meant yes.)

I can't wait to see everyone!