Officially Back.

Yesterday morning camp officially came to an end. Eight summers down. How many more to go? Probably a lot, if I play my cards right.

TC and I packed the car and headed out. After a quick stop for breakfast he dropped me off at the airport. He needed to get on the road to head back to Canada and I was due to fly back to Atlanta yesterday evening. It was going to be a long day at the airport but I was armed with free wifi, my laptop, my iPad and my iPhone. I figured I could kill some major time simply by catching up on two months of blogs and Facebook.

My plane was overbooked so obviously I quickly volunteered to take a later flight. I'll do anything for a free hotel and a few hundred dollars in vouchers. It was looking good too. In fact, the Delta lady had just called the hotel to book my room when the maintanence guy gave us the bad news. My flight was delayed due to a problem with the tire. Just like that, half the plane was re-booked on different flights and I was stuck waiting another two hours. I watched my dreams of a glorious hotel room and free flight go right out the window.

I found myself sitting at the gate again. Eventually, the tire was fixed and I boarded the plane. I thanked my lucky stars that I had the forethought to bring along a fleece jacket to double as a pillow. I was out cold before we even taxied down the runway.

Thunderstorms plagued the sky all through New York and Virginia. I took a free glass of wine and dozed back off, letting the turbulence and wine rock me back to sleep. By the time I woke back up we were just outside of Atlanta.

So here I am. Back in real life. No more big red bell to tell me when I need to go to the next place. No more dining hall to feed me. No more lake to play in. No more kids to take care of.

Now I have full access to my phone, my car. I will sleep in air conditioning. I have to decide what to eat every day and then actually prepare the food. I have to choose my clothes. Bathing suits won't cut it any more.

I've got big plans for the next few weeks while I'm in Atlanta. Tomorrow my college roommates and I are heading out for a long overdue girls weekend. My sister is coming home next week. We might go to the beach. I might go to a Phish show. I don't know. It doesn't really matter.

What I do know, is that I'm going to love every second of it. I'm going to enjoy the south and sweet tea. I'm going to spend time with my parents. I'm going to have long talks over wine with my best friends. I'm going to exercise. I'm going to blog and tell you all about the summer. It was a good one. You'll like the stories, I promise.