I spent most of the last few days trying hard to soak in the sun, at least when I could afford to get out of the office. It’s been a sprint to get some things wrapped before we leave tomorrow morning. Not entirely successful, the late nights and long hours resulted in getting a fair amount done, but left some things undone. I hate that feeling, but I rather enjoy the feeling when the time has finally passed to do anything useful. I hit send on the last of my emails about an hour ago, and now I’m just letting go for the night. I’ll be doing some emailing and other correspondence from the road, and maybe even some full-fledged work, but that’s ok. This was not an anticipated vacation. And it’s the second trip in 2 months.

Early tomorrow AM we board a plane headed back to the land of grey and wet. We’ll be at a wedding down on the southern Oregon coast, visiting family, then we’ll head back up to Portland/Vancouver for a quick couple days of seeing family, consuming good coffee, and then back on the plane. It’s going to be a fast trip, with nowhere near the quantity of visits we’d like, but it’s something of a bonus trip and getting to see any family near the holidays will be fantastic.

I’m also excited about the idea of flying with kids who are no longer toddlers. I just feel so much less stress about the trip knowing that everyone will largely be able to entertain themselves, and the odds of a full on meltdown on the airplane are slim to none… unless of course I forget to charge up the ipad, then I might be the one melting down…

Anytime we take a trip, I look forward to the down time, to the time for introspection, the time to evaluate what’s happening in this inordinately busy life of ours. Business has been amazing the last half of this year – I’ve done almost double the volume from last year. But a growing business comes with a price, and that price is less free time. One of my big goals in the coming months is to find a way to sustain this level of business and free up the parts of my schedule that need to be freed up.

But no matter what happens, we’re always grateful for a chance to get away and visit friends and family. PNW, here we come! And a little time at the beach is always nice too, even if it is ridiculously cold.