Going Out of One's Way...

I’ve experienced going out of one’s way literally and figuratively in the past 24 hours.

Figuratively – I was in Orlando on business that tied me up until 6:30 pm, and then took one of our pilots up on his offer of a home cooked meal, about 40 minutes from the base. I’m never happy about the drive to or from Orlando, but I figured I’d eat, and then decide whether I wanted to drive a couple of hours and hoof it home, or just get a place to crash. Instead Pat and his wife invited me to stay over, which I did, and it turned into a nice, relaxing social evening. Michelle cooked a lasagna bake, topped off with a chocolate cake (my favorite food in the whole wide world), then we watched Ladder 49 (which I’d seen before, but enjoyed again), and then hit the hay (but not before opening the bedroom window, setting off the alarm!).

Literally – this morning, on my way back from Orlando I’m tooling along listening to Bocelli’s “Sogno” CD when I took a wrong turn and before I knew it went 10 miles out of my way – so I had to go another 10 to get back where I was supposed to be, and then had another 2 hours to drive home. Bummer.

Driving back this morning was certainly preferable to the night drive – I actually enjoyed it, largely due to the great hospitality the night before and this morning. I-95 was a mess, but I took in a couple more CDs – Bocelli’s “Cieli di Toscana” and a new one from David Francey called “Waking Hour” – both excellent.

Off to a wedding this afternoon, and then tomorrow I hope to move into my new office at the temporary LifeStar hangar.