After several weeks of walking and driving through France, I have to admit it’s nice to come home. “Re-entry” is going rather well, as our house is still in relatively good shape, the animals are alive and loving us, and I even lost some weight due to the healthy eating and exercising we did while on the road. Ahhhhhhhh…..life is good.
But wait, what’s this? Chores? Chores are required again??? Do these things NEVER stop??? Groceries, cooking, cleaning, laundry, dog walking, flat tire fixing, cob web chasing, weed pulling, fence mending - yep, this one got our attention while on the road. The guests staying in our house emailed us a few weeks into our stay in France about “a funny thing” happening to our fence. My initial thoughts while reading this email was, “Really? I never thought of my fence as funny, but hey, I’ll bite.” “…just a small fire” they said, “…caused by a cigarette smoldering at the base of our fence.” OMG! My immediate reaction was not even remotely close to “Ha, ha, that was funny.” Call me crazy but somehow that kind of news just doesn’t seem to fall into the ‘funny’ realm for me. Not even a little giggle came to mind. I’m just sayin’……
Anyway, coming home from a perfectly lovely long vacation in a part of the world that is just stunning and filled with all kinds of things to delight one’s senses can be disappointing in some ways. But when one is coming home to San Francisco, which is stunning in its own way, it makes it much easier to adjust, I have to admit. The trick I have been using recently for tackling those mundane, everyday life chores again is to think I am still in France, driving through small 11th, 12th, and 13th century villages looking for our daily croissants and baguettes. I understand Costco is a far cry from 12th century France but hey, one’s imagination can make anything look better if you just try a little.
Butch Wife Tip #19
Take time to get back into your life when you’ve been away from it for a while. Treat yourself to some nights out and don’t just jump at those required chores right away. Let the calming of your vacation stay with you as long as possible because those damn chores will still be there no matter what! So give yourself and your wife a break and ignore them for a few days. Makes re-entry a whole lot easier….trust me.

