Am I There Yet?

Hi folks....Daniel here doing a quickie guest blog entry for my dear hubby :)

So, as you've probably ascertained by now I travel quite a bit for work. Is it what I imagined I'd be doing when going through vet school? Nope. But it's a decent job, pays the bills, and allows me to essentially receive constant CE credits through my interactions with specialists and teaching adventures.

So sure, travel has its' perks....I get to see a lot of cool cities in the US (well, by "see" I mean I get to drive in a car and then work in a hotel at the end of the day after visiting a bunch of clinics as there really isn't much time for actual sight seeing). I get tons of frequent flyer miles, hotel points, and when I feel a little naughty, I grab a scoop of ice cream on the run :)

But sometimes it truly gets exhausting...I was in LA this week for work and was routed from LAX through DIA to get back home to Des Moines with intended arrival being midnight last night. Yes, last night. Thanks to the storms in Denver, my flight was late and I missed my connection....along with about a million other travelers in Denver. Being a bit snobbish about my Marriott status (yes, that's Premium Member thank you very much), I called around to secure a hotel for the night. Yeah, right. The closest I could find was about 35 miles from the airport and a $75 taxi ride (thank you expense reporting!). Being all glass half full, I checked online to see if my United status (oh yeah, I'm sooooo close to 1K now) would get me an early flight home Friday morning. No dice. So, here I am....nearly 24 hours later soon to board for home. Lucky me will get home at midnight and have enough time in the morning to do laundry and pack again to a drive to conference this weekend. I do have to give a shout-out to a pal of mine and former classmate who lives in the Denver area and was kind enough to pick me up and take me to the airport after getting lunch as my treat--thanks Mike!

While I am frustrated and annoyed by flight delays and mother nature keeping me from home I have to be thankful for what I have...a wonderful husband and two beautiful boys who give me laughter and love and whom I cherish every second I have with them. I have to give props to our age of technology where I can easily text, call, or FaceTime (love you iPad 2!) to keep myself connected to them, even if I may be stranded a thousand miles away. AJ's venture into the blogoverse (is that a word?) is also a great way for me to not only hear about the little moments of the day but also see them for myself.

I'm thinking of my boys constantly and can't wait to get home after every trip to see them. One day I'll be in a position where I won't need to travel any longer, but until then, I'll just have to keep trucking along until I get there....one ice cream scoop at a time.

See you fellas in the morning...love, Dad :)