8/7 Report

Slept from midnight until one thirty am, up again with restless legs, fall back asleep around 3 am (hmmm…seems to be a pattern here?). In the morning, not feeling well again physically or emotionally – stay back at the campground. Use the CES in the early afternoon, travel to KB to provide transportation back to the camp site in the evening for dinner. Remain at the camp site after dinner while others return to KB. Will, Gina, and I work on building a fire. Will is persistent, Gina and I mainly laugh and cough (choking on smoke). Have a relaxing/entertaining time around camp fire until around 10:45 pm. I’m very sleepy at this point. Once everyone has returned I’m off to bed. I’ll sleep for a while and then experience the usual up due to restless legs, but am able to fall back asleep by 1 am. I utilize the CES again in the evening before bed.

Overall, the day has been okay. It started off rough, but my physical/emotional health improved throughout the day, until around 4 pm when it took a nosedive again due to external factors. Dinner was good and I recovered again and enjoyed myself during the camp fire. As Gina puts it, “Dave is funny when he is tired.” This is very true. The more exhausted I am the sillier I become…unless I just become grumpy, but I didn’t.

8/8 Report

I wake up early (7 am) and get ready for the day. I take a walk to clear my head, thinking about this Sunday’s sermon on divorce and remarriage – not a topic I am particularly eager to speak on. Last sermon I preached was on hell – a theologically/intellectually difficult topic, divorce/remarriage is an emotionally (and intellectually) difficult topic…But one of the reasons I preach through books of the Bible is to prevent myself from skipping topics (like hell and divorce/remarriage) – so I’m not going to start skipping now (we’ve tackled rape and Christ’s descent into hades, etc. in previous morning services…).

I work on packing and cleaning. Before we leave I take another nap. It is going to be a long trip back – and as mentioned previously, being in a car makes me sleepy – so anything I can do to increase my energy is a good thing.

We head out at 11 am, I’ll arrive home after dropping Gina and Kyle off around 6 pm – nearly seven hours of driving (we made a few stops along the way). It was a fun ride back – but SOOOO long. I ate a box of good & plenties and a bag of peanut m&m’s to provide me with additional energy…caffeine doesn’t seem to work, and honestly, sugar is only marginally more effective…but I stay awake (with the help of Kyle’s air horn) and we arrive back without incident…

Don’t get me wrong, I am a good driver, it is just extremely painful to stay awake when one’s eyes are insisting that they should be closed. 😛

Anyways, upon entering the house I am hit by an obnoxious odor. Yes, this is apparently what happens when you leave the cats home alone (thanks Cassandra for checking in on them) for several days. I set about opening windows, turning up the air purifier, and cleaning out the litter boxes. I really wish I could figure out why Piper and George both have constant diarrhea. It drives me nuts and smells SOOOO bad.

I’m all nasty from driving all day and my hair is getting long (except on the top), so it’s time to shave my head and take a shower. The rest of the evening is spent catching up – emails, facebook, rss feeds, and so on.

I’m exhausted by 11:30 pm and hit the sack. I have the new pillow my mom gave me when I was up there and it feels like heaven. I am out like a light and sleep solidly until 9 am Friday (8/9).

Overall, my mood is flatline/positive. I’m happy to be back in my own house (traveling is always difficult), to have fast internet (yes, more than food), and to be looking forward to some normality in my schedule returning.

Funny, how I felt this way when I first reached KB and how I now feel it upon first reaching home. In both cases it dissipates as reality descends upon me…but as of 12:30 pm (8/9) I’m still doing fairly well.