But in all fairness, this summer has been a very atypical summer for me.
One thing I've learned about myself as I've settled into my thirties, is that I'm very much a homebody. The things that I do in my life seem to all be based around making sure that the place I go every night is comfortable, and that the people there are well taken care of.
I like my house, I like my family, and I like the way that one spot on the couch now seems contoured to my butt.
I feel like that little girl from the daily affirmations video.
That said, this weekend I take off for Omaha, Nebraska for a work training that will allow me to come back and teach classes on Youth Mental Health First Aid.
The training is going to be awesome, and Counting Crows made an entire song about Omaha - so I'm sure the week will be a really great one...
It's just... I'm ready to sit still for a while.
Mental Health First Aid (along with the youth course that I'm taking this week) is all about training those unfamiliar with mental health issues how to be comfortable identifying people in need - and more importantly, how to be comfortable approaching and helping them.
Truly, it's awesome. It's 100% designed to reduce the stigma of mental health diagnoses, and the more people that we teach, the less people will be afraid to discuss important matters and seek help.
But, after Florida in May, Washington D.C. in June, and now this - followed by Vegas in August for Adam's wedding and potentially North Carolina over fall break - that's just more than I'm used to being away from home.
And I don't know when the transition happened, to be honest.
When I was a kid and the travel process was actually fun, I flew to my dad's house in Texas quite regularly (often by myself). Admittedly, having my mom pack my suitcase probably helped make the process a bit more fun. But still, the prospect of traveling for a week (specifically without my family) just feels a little bit... hollow.
Honestly it's not a humble brag. At least, I don't think.
I'm so truly appreciative that I work in a field and for a Nation that allows me to travel as much as I have gotten to. I've seen places that I never thought I'd get to travel because of this job.
I think I'm just lazy, and moving this much in such a short period of time has taken it out of me.
But, there really is something to be said about growing into the nest that we build around ourselves.
I guess it's a good problem to have, owning a life that you miss when you're away from it.
Humans are funny creatures.
This week has been somewhat uneventful, minus that deluge of patients that we saw at the hospital.
Truly, it's bizarre how predictable full moons are when it comes to patient needs in any form of helping profession.
I've heard multiple different proposed reasons as to why this is, and many of them make sense. However, the only irrefutable fact about full moons while working in a hospital is that they often lead to an overload of work in an already draining profession.
Man, I just go on and on about being tired sometimes, don't I?
I could have it so much worse. I'll stop.
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This week Jade had a friend over for a sleepover, and Jaxon helped me mow the yard. We've also had a lot of fun with a pack of Shrinky Dinks that my mom found during her recent move.
...and by "we", I mean that the kids played with them for a short while, and upon finding out what Shrinky Dinks were, my coworkers have become obsessed with them.
Honestly, at one point this week, my friend Jordan said (with a straight face):
"I'm just really into Shrinky Dinks right now".
Is that not hilarious?
To me, it conjured the image of a teenager dressed in all black locking themselves away in their room with markers and scissors, only emerging to frequent the oven.
"Mom, I told you it's NOT a phase! I'm a Shrinky Dartist!"
... but I'm easily entertained.
... apparently not as much as my Shrinky Dink loving coworkers, though.
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Jade's sleepover went off without a hitch.
She and all of her friends are SUPER into making slime right now, so the night consisted of a lot of really loud music, dancing, and making slime with various additives thrown in.
I've seen her make it with sand, with shaving cream, and even with cut up pieces of straws thrown in.
She makes batch after batch - and when she's not making it herself, she's watching youtube videos of other kids making it.
... In fact, it just hit me - maybe slime is her video games - because that sounds exactly like Jaxon's relationship with xbox games.
Listening to her play with her friend last night though made me miss being a kid.
Remember sleepovers?
Even as a boy, they were fun. Staying up late, watching things we weren't supposed to, playing games until 2 in the morning, and messing with the first person to fall asleep.
Somewhere along the line though, I guess it's just not cool to have people over for the night.
... though a part of me thinks that Kevin would probably still be up for a night of scrambled HBO and xbox.
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Other than that, as I said before - Jaxon helped me mow the lawn.
As much as I pine about them getting older and growing up, Jaxon both wanting to help mow - AND being able to work the mower - is a pretty sweet consolation prize.
It's taken yard work time down from 3 hours to roughly an hour and 15 minutes.
And not only that, it's been really cool seeing him take an active interest in what the yard actually looks like.
While our yard isn't the best in the neighborhood (mainly because we live across from a man who has summers off and treats his lawn like Hank Hill treated his...), Jaxon actually seems proud of the work that we do when we mow the yard together.
... and that's awesome.
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So, I guess that's it for now.
Shelly and the kids are at a birthday party, and I need to get back to packing my suit case for my flight early tomorrow morning.
Hope all is well for you, and thanks for reading.
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