You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

We have been away from home for a week, It seems like a very long time.

In the days that have passed since we left Maui, two things are happening:

I am desperately missing my husband (which happens every time we do one of these trips where I stay longer then he does so the kids can spend more time with family).

I am running around like a lunatic, with something planned for every day.

As a result of these two issues, I am spending a good chunk of every day in the car, on speakerphone, either talking to my poor husband as the children shout in the background, or getting directions on how to get to our next stop.

I also broke down and used my mother's GPS for the first time yesterday. I think I may be the last person on planet earth to use a GPS, and I resisted as long as I could. After all, I live on an island with, like, 3 roads on it, and they all start with H and have 14 vowels. A GPS would be useless. Or so I thought.

For the first 15 minutes, I was so fucking annoyed by that uptight british accent telling me to turn left that I almost threw it out the window on the exit ramp. But then I actually got lost, and damned if it didn't give me directions on how to find the closest Dunkin Donuts so I could get my head straight and carry on. So even if I ONLY use the GPS for Dunkin Donut runs, I am totally keeping this thing front and center on my dashboard. Her name is Glenda, and once you get to know her, she really grows on you. And the accent? Kind of hot.

Yesterday we drove almost completely around the state of Connecticut courtesy of Glenda the Fabulous, and ended up having an impromptu sleepover at a friends house. It is probably hard for the kids, to be so completely detached from any routine. But the alternative is to sit in my mother's living room watching her cats. I imagine I'll do plenty of that in about 50 years, so I am trying like hell to find something - anything - else to fill my time.

Thank god, I have a lot of friends to hang out with. And none of them seem to have cats.