The sun comes up over the south of France. I step out onto my yacht and yawn and stretch and take a look at the glorious life I lead. "Crepes, sir?" my assistant asks. "Why, sure. Oh, and an omelet. And some sausages. Oo, oo, and also some fresh fruit, you know, gotta be healthy." Not that it matters. I eat and eat and stay thin and tan and gorgeous. Next stop, Paris for some shopping. After that, head over to London and do some serious eating of...whatever they have in England. Take a stop off in Egypt and see some pyramids and end off holding a koala bear in Australia. Good vacation. I returned home from my first official vacation in about 7 years. Unlike, "Guy", I did not go to the Caribbean or Ireland or.... Pittsburgh? No, I went to southern California. I forgot how freeing the salty beach air can be or how great it is to wear a swimsuit and flip-flops all day and not having to worry about doing my hair. I got a tan that is now peeling...a lot. It will be gone in a few days, I'm sure of it. I had a couple of thoughts upon my return from my vacation. 1- I'm glad I'm not Guy. I'm glad that I don't have a yacht and millions of dollars to take a vacation whenever I want. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. One of the reasons I loved my vacation so much was because I appreciated it. I worked so hard for that time off (and I am still working hard to make up for the loss of income while ON vacation!) I guess you can look at it this way: if you never ate cheesecake, you would never know the complete joy that comes from the caramelly, delicious, sweet, melt in your mouth taste of cheesecake (aaaaand now I want cheesecake) in comparison, if you had cheesecake for every meal, you would get sick of it (...maybe...doubtful...but maybe) I suppose what I'm saying is you that have to experience the pain to really love the pleasure. You have to do without in order to appreciate the...with, as it were. 2-Home is where the heart is (and the family!) I loved my vacation, but about 7 days into it, I really started to miss my nieces and nephews. I missed the talks with my uncle. I missed the wonderful friends at work. I missed the routine and I missed my stuffed turtle! I realized that nothing: not the epic waves, the tasty fish tacos at Pedro's or the incomparable pastrami sandwiches at The Hat, the warm sand on my feet, and the smell of salty beach air; none of that can compare to the sound of my aunt's laugh at a funny story that happened to her, the way my niece calls her brother, "cookie!" the smile that I get from my nephew that makes my mom jealous, and the sound of friends saying, with a smile, "Hi Brent!" when I walk into work. I'm heading to Japan in October and I'm so excited, but I know that my heart will never be far from the place I love and the people that make it home.