Holidays are in the past and Monday will mark the return to reality for our family. It was just as fun and stressful as I thought it might be. We made some good memories and made it home all in one piece. Life is about the journey and not the destination. That inspired some deep thinking while driving through constant rain for 5 hours while we travelled home. Before we do that I would like to make a quick side note:

To the owner of a jacked up Dodge Ram Crew Cab,

You may get less suggestions that your oversized truck is a replacement for your undersized penis if you didn’t hang silver bull nuts off the back of it. Put a ball in the trailer hitch area. At least try to lie to people and make them think the truck is necessary. Also, I apologize for only travelling at eighty five miles per hour in the rain. It must have been excruciating to slow down from the one hundred and five mile per hour you are used to. Those flashing lights and riding my ass really helped wake me up. I hope you didn’t miss your hair plug appointment. I know how that can really ruin your attitude at the gym the next day. What are you working on? Arms? Chest? Both? I bet it is both.

 HAPPY HANGOVERS

Okay sorry about that. Where were we? Oh yeah that feeling of depression right after something that you really enjoy. I remember the afternoon of Christmas was like an excited hangover. Here are some other things I think fit as happy hangovers:

1. Reading and finishing what you know is the last book in a series.
2. Reaching the end of a really good conversation with the kids and having to do something else.
3. Arriving home after a vacation and dumping out the dirty clothes to be washed tomorrow. Boo.
4. Seeing a really close old friend that you haven’t seen in years only to find out their life now sucks or they haven’t grown up since high school.
5. Ending a perfect romantic evening, knowing it was special and that it may be a while before it happens again.
6. Having fun at a wedding reception, bar, or friend’s house and suddenly the significant other is ready to go. You walk out knowing that fun will continue to be had.
7. Thinking there is one more potato chip in the bag but there isn’t.
8. Seeing an empty Christmas tree looking battered and war torn. Knowing you have to put that stuff away before the New Years party.
9. Finding a good thirty five percent of the new Christmas toys missing, scattered, or broken within twenty four hours of Christmas.
10. Watching Dexter and you finish season eight but know you should have stopped at seven. (The episode where Rita dies is also on my list of hangovers, that one took me a week to get over)
11. Sitting with your dog at Christmas and knowing it may be her last. Love my Biscuit and her dirty diaper wearing condition.
12. Not writing down family stories during the family visits to have a better history for my kids. We always leave smiling about how similar everyone is and whose personality pops up where but I’ve never made record of it and I should.
13. That feeling right after you beat a video game that was really hard and took a long time. The fun leaves in an instant.
14. You are having fun with the kids and one of them gets tired/hungry/hurt and ruins the groove.

These are all things that suck and are killers of fun and good feelings.

What puts a bittersweet smack down on your fun. What gives you a happiness hangover?