In the past, re-entering the United States after weeks abroad has not went well for us. When we returned from the first Honduras trip, Paul was hospitalized with some malaria-ish condition (they couldn’t get blood at the right time to confirm diagnosis), I was stung by a yellow jacket and had an allergic reaction which made me cough so hard I popped out a few ribs and was bed ridden for two weeks, and Paul was laid off from his job. When we returned from Peru two years ago, we found that we had been victims of identity theft (an HR employee at Paul’s company — he is now in federal prison) and our car was dead.
Not withstanding the fact that Spirit Airlines SUCKS, we managed to get back in one piece yesterday — with ALL our luggage and ALL our delicate ceramics unbroken. We enjoyed a wonderful homecoming with the kids, who we picked up from school on the way back from the airport. Then we got home. And the shoe dropped.
The tile was laid in our bathroom while we were gone… we decided to hire someone on great recommendation rather than have Paul and I try to do this when we got back. We were sure his workman ship would live up to our expectations.
It didn’t. We are very disappointed.
The bottom line is that substantial portions will need to be redone.
We’re working on figuring out the next steps there. We’re also working on 800 other things, including getting settled back into our still-disaster-construction-zone house, planning how to spend the weekend re-connecting with our kids, processing the 4000+ photographs taken on the trip, and trying to adjust back to our actual jobs. Thankfully, I planned to NOT start interviews for my study until week after next… it will take that long to get organized.
Details on the trip and pictures posted soon.
Fluffy | 06-Jun-08 at 8:41 am | Permalink
One step at a time, kiddo. We can’t have you sick from the stress of it all! It will all work out.