So I’ve been on the road for 4 weeks now, with one more to go, and I think I’m ready for it to be over. It’s just exhausting! I don’t think it’s really the driving or even the sleeping in a new place almost every night — it’s just that I rarely have down time to “be.” And for me, I need some of that to help me keep on going.
I love to travel, I do, and I’ve really loved getting to see so many familiar faces of family and friends, but it’s just hard (for me, at least) to be working all day, talking with people I’ve set up meetings with (I actually love that part) and then trying to engage people passing by my display who have never heard about LVC — and then I get to my host house and want to be social and chat and spend some quality time with them, but by the time that’s all over, it’s at least 10, usually 11, and I hardly have any time to myself to recharge my introvert batteries before I need to get to sleep to start the day all over again!
Plus, I miss DC. As much as I’ve lived in a variety of places these past 18 months, there’s something to be said about a consistant community to be around. Even being in a place as short at 7 weeks, I developed a community I was comfortable with. But here on the road, it’s “me, myself, and I” changing locations every day (or two) and entering into a new community where I get to meet people that I’ll (likely) never see again. I’ve gotten used to the changing of communities in which I’m a part of, but the lack of community, that’s very hard for me.
So I look forward to this time next weekend when I’ll be back in DC, reuniting for a Saturday evening out with my fellow short-term recruiters (I wonder if they’re feeling similar things) and then connecting with the many others from DC that I’ve missed during this month-long pilgrimage. I still won’t have my own room or my own bed to sleep in, but I will have a place of comfort, peace, and love — I’ll have a home.
(For more thoughts on home, click for one of my previous posts.)
Posted by eric bjorlin 