Travel news and other random business...

I haven't written much the past few weeks, although I've wanted to. But finally - the papers are handed in, the final exams are over, and I'm ready to show blogger some serious love. Hope you can handle it...

Luis leaves this afternoon for Boston. Wish I could go, because I haven't been out East to visit for a couple of years. Alas, I have my own travel plans for the holidays.
For years, Luis resolutely avoided owning a cell phone, but in the past year or so he's come around a bit and realized that it could prove useful during his many travels. This year I bought him one for Christmas. I loaded it with several cheezy photos of us, a garden gnome for his screensaver, and Sun-Eyed Girl as a ringtone. Welcome to the 21st century, Doc.

We had a meeting last week for my cohort of nursing students, which will start in the upper division nursing courses this spring. It's generally regarded as the hardest semester in the program, so I'm a little bit nervous. I have great classmates, though, and I think we'll be able to help each other through the rough parts. Plus, it'll be a great lesson for me in time management. (I don't think I'll have any choice.)

It's generally understood by Missoulians that weather delays are part of flying. Since we're in a valley, we get temperature inversions that trap low lying fog, and sometimes it stays for days. Three years ago I got stuck in Salt Lake overnight, and while waiting for my (canceled) flight, I met a mom and her son who had been trying to get home to Missoula for four days. Every flight they were rebooked on wound up getting canceled. When they canceled our flight that night, she gave up and rented a car. Two years ago, Luis and I got a phone call at 9:30 the night before our 6:00 am flight, telling us that our flight was canceled due to fog. They rebooked us on an early flight out of Helena, which meant that we left Missoula in the middle of the night to drive to Helena. In the dead of winter. Over MacDonald pass. Ick. The Missoula International Airport (teehee - international? Perhaps because we're so close to Canada?) has finally started battling the fog problem. I'd heard of this being used in other cities, and I'm glad they're trying it out here.

Next week I embark on a three week adventure back to the Sunflower state. I imagine that it will once again be that familiar mix of feeling completely at home, and at the same time slightly out of place. I always love being with my family, as well as seeing my old friends, but with each visit back to my hometown I'm more aware that it's not home anymore. (The exception to this is, of course, my mom's house - she says, "home is where your mom is," and she's right. Mom's house always feels like home.) I'm fascinated by the shifts that occur in friendships over time and space, so expect much meandering thought on this topic over the next month...