Countdown to April 2016

I'm now proclaiming it, after much thought over a few weeks. April 2016 will be epic.

Preparing for a unique vacation is like preparing for New Year's Eve for Ryan and I, with new thoughts and ideas percolating around the unknowns of the present. We worry about next steps: a big drive, doing a vacation rental for the first time, bringing the blessed son/dog, selecting the right audiobook, hoping Northwest Texas still has Internet these days, wishing we could extend, worried we're gone to long, and other nonspecific things.

Then comes a tomorrowland of ideas. Sure, we have 40 hours of driving in 8 days, 4 states, and the emotional retread of earth to-and-fro a land we left 12 years ago. But, beyond the future is agape with pent-up freedom. Let me explain.

Our jobs are highly seasonal and completely acknowledged to be such. We knew, over a dozen years ago, that hairdressing is for the selfish and we all want to look our best during the holidays. Fine, we'll give up Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas, Holiday Parties and New Years. Then, I went and got a job that depends on the ease of the calendar year. Who wants their health benefits to start mid-year and think about "Say, Aiden, it's June and our deductible is back to zero, what's a deductible?" or "Oh my, Tom, your fungal prescription was $25 last month and now $250, what gives?"

Now we have the Internal Revenue Service adding a legendary tax reporting requirement reminiscent, at least I hope in terms of the statue they'll erect for us, of the introduction of W-2s and 401ks that will keep us scrambling until March 31st and probably April 15th.

This is why on April 16th our flight will leave Austin Texas and soar toward That Place. I'm thrilled to have That Place in mind because it will be an epic journey. These Places we visit in 2015 aren't red shirts: Santa Fe, Utah, Hawaii... but These Places are NOT That Place from a chronological and greatness standpoint. April 15, 2016, is the borderline and we're going to slink right over onto an airplane to...

In the interim, we'll focus on the domestic sensibilities, the massive drive and tasks at hand, try to keep heads parallel to the clouds and keep That Place two thoughts from the current.

Tschüß!