Travel Week One Completed

Week 1 of the Great East Coast Tour is done and I'm exhausted. Actually, I'm peopled out.

If you're an introvert, you understand what I'm talking about. If you're an extrovert, you probably won't. All I ask is you give us introverts some grace and kindness.

It's not that we don't like socializing. But the more people involved, the more strength we use to keep up. It's. . .exhausting.

At two of the four stops so far, the people I saw wanted me to meet their friends. The other two wanted to got out to eat at fancy restaurants in major cities. I just wanted to see the people I love. And I would have been perfectly happy to catch up over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Right now, I'm ensconced in my room at a Charlotte Holiday Inn. Thankfully, check-out isn't until noon. It's only a three-hour drive to my next stop. So, I have roughly 18 hours of me time.

I need it. I mean I REALLY need it because my next friend is taking me out to dinner with her friends and then to a concert.

And the friend at my last stop just texted me about making reservations for dinner when I get to her house. I texted back, "Please don't make me go out! We order in or I'll cook." And she replied that was no problem

I'm glad I bookended my entire trip with people I've lived with at one time or another. They understand me.

Too Much Peopling

I took DH to his eye doctor appointment early this morning. We picked up breakfast on the way home. The pups and I shared two McMuffins "with 'Murican bacon!"1

I thought I'd get a ton of stuff done today since I was up at a reasonable time. Instead, the pups and I fell asleep. The pups until they had to pee. Me until eight p.m.

Yep, I slept the day away. *groan*

I think most of it was collective exhaustion. I've been running around to numerous doctors' appointments for the last month. Dropping off cars for maintenance and repairs and picking them up. Throw in family get-togethers once everyone was over their Christmas colds while the kids are still home for the holidays. And now that my eyes have healed enough, I've been FINALLY wrapping and delivering or shipping presents.

And it doesn't help that I've been trying to cut back on caffeine.

But I think my introverted self is developing a lower tolerance for being around people. These are people I like for crying out loud, not people I can't tolerate. I mean we had brunch with friends who may go out to Vegas with us for renewing our vows.

But tonight, it's just DH, GK, and me, and the guys were hungry by the time I woke up. So, we splurged tonight and got some pizza before we kicked back and watched a couple of episodes of Jeopardy. The guys are now playing PC games while I go through my snail mail and email.

And then, I'll definitely get some writing done. LOL

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1 The kids working at our local McDonald's get a kick out of me ordering an Egg McMuffin and telling them to substitute the Canadian bacon this way. I'm not a fan of smoked pork chop on my breakfast sandwich.

The Balance Between Introverts and Extroverts

Susan Cain gave a fascinating speech on the power of introversion and how forced extroversion is harming our society,

(Thanks to Jay Lake for the tip.)