The following was written at 10am on Monday, April 15 but technology and scheduling issues kept me from posting it until now:

If you were at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport right now, you would find me sitting between Gates G8 and G10.  I’m the guy next to the bank of payphones, not because I want to eavesdrop on conversations but because it happened to have an available power outlet. 

I’m the guy typing on my phone with the large pink bag at my feet.  Yes, there is a story there but you’ll have to read further on to learn what it is.

I was supposed to be at work right now.  A cancelled flight last Thursday put this entire weekend in jeopardy for a bit.  Since I didn’t get in until Friday morning, I had my flight changed to today instead of yesterday afternoon.  I like it better this way.

Friday morning I was standing outside vestibule 3D-LL, staring down the road waiting to catch my first glimpse of that familiar pale blue car coming to pick me up. 

Soon I see it and it stops at the curb.  The driver’s door opens and Emily steps out to pop the trunk.  My bags are tossed in, we share a quick hug and a kiss, and we jump back into the car.  Adventure starts now!

Our Friday evening consists of attending a wedding.  We laugh, we dance, we simply enjoy being with each other again.  Seeing two people share their love together makes us even more anxious for the day when it will be our turn.  Even while we celebrate one wedding, we talk about the plans for ours.

Saturday morning begins with breakfast at home and then a drive down to Wheaton, IL to visit Cantigny (http://www.cantigny.org), a park and mansion.  We manage to locate a Geocache on the grounds and also find a couple more on the way back. 

Saturday evening we ran a gimmick rallye.  It was my first experience doing such a thing and we had a great time.  We didn’t do all that well (ninth place out of twelve teams), but we did finish second in the beginner class.  It was a great relationship building exercise as you try and deal with large amounts of information in a limited time.

Sunday was another road trip day.  This time to Plano, IL to visit the Farnsworth House (http://farnsworthhouse.org).  Before getting to the house we stopped to do some more Geocaching, stopped to visit Emily’s horse, and just see what sights we could stumble across.

The Farnsworth House is a far cry from the Cantigy Mansion, but touring it actually took twice as long.  It was very interesting from a historical and architectural perspective.

We ate dinner at the Kendall Pub in Yorkville, IL before returning home to watch a movie.  After that it was just a matter of the inevitable packing and starting to deal with the emotions that the goodbye always brings.

Our time together always passes much too quickly, even though we marvel at how many memories and activities we can fit into such a short time.

The one good thing about only being together in a limited fashion is that we never take it for granted.  We know to cherish every moment, to revel in each other’s company, to fully immerse ourselves in our life together.

Oh, as for the pink bag?  In contains the most amazing metal fire engine, loving purchased in Michigan by Emily for me.  The pink bag is the only thing we had that was big enough to hold it.  Even that will become a precious memory as every time we look at that fire truck together we will remember all the great things we did this weekend and the time I carried a pink back from Chicago to Calgary.