Long Trips = Big Hugs

I have never blogged before, but seeing some of my close friends/family members blogs, I think it is an awesome idea and a Great way of keeping sort of an online journal. I had a few minutes at work today, so I thought I would start one up with a simple post.

I travel a lot for my job unfortunately. Last year, I had 106 nights in hotels....kind of crazy if you think about it. I was away from my family for nearly 1/3 of the entire year! Not fun at all....but, it was a job and I am glad to have it. Beginning this year, I will now only be traveling one week per month! Woot!

I went out on the road to Chicago this past week and it was a pretty tiring week. I was supposed to get home Friday afternoon around 4:30, but as we were about to land (landing gear was down and we were only a few hundred feet off the ground) the pilot punched it and we took off again. The fog was too thick, so the visibility was so bad, we couldn't "legally" land. After about 5 minutes of circling SLC airport and seeing a few other planes go through the same process, we ended up getting diverted to Grand Junction, Colorado. After 6 hours of waiting, they finally canceled our flight and long story short, I got home on Saturday at about 10:30 a.m. I was Really tired and was excited to see Mary and Korbin, but I kind of just wanted to take a nap.

I grabbed my suitcase and backpack, which seemed heavier than when I left, and carried them to the porch. As I was walking up the steps, I could see my beautiful wife holding my freaking cute son in her arms pointing out the window out at me. I could see my son's ear-to-ear smile through the window and could hear him laughing even before I opened the door. I set down my suitcase and opened the front door and all I hear is Korbin squealing with excitement at the top of his lungs. I had never seen him this excited before. As I stepped inside, he yelled "Dadda!!!!". Mary let him down and he ran over to me and gave me a huge hug and kiss. Mary came and joined in the hug...in the background, our dog is still going crazy (she gets excited when I come home too apparently). Suddenly, as I am sitting there holding my family, I feel no fatigue anymore. I feel a burning inside and happiness and it is all I can do to hold back a tear. Although that moment lasted only about 10 seconds, it is one of my most memorable so far as a dad. These are the sort of memories I will remember forever.

The big hugs/kisses at the end of a long trip make it all worth it.