Lonely With People Around

This might be a little bit of a different post than anyone would ever expect from me.  I'm sitting in a hotel room 640 miles from my family, friends, and pretty much everything that matters to me.  I meet a lot of people, all kinds of people, some good, some not so good, some I might wish I never met, but the only thing that I keep going back to, is what am I missing?  I'm missing every word my Teagan says, I'm missing the smiles that I get just from being Layton's dad every day, doesn't matter if I've had a good day or not, he is going to make me laugh!!  I'm missing the calmness of Kota, kid doesn't get excited about anything, 30 minutes before I got to the airport Sunday, I saw him single handedly save the game for his team, one with a great sliding catch, then a game saving catch to send the game to extra innings, his entire team ran to hug and congratulate him, and he couldn't get away from them and to the dugout quick enough, he didn't want that attention, he just did what he knows to do, get the job done!  I'm also missing the hugs, kisses, and dirty looks I get from my wife when I do something crazy that she doesn't get!!!  I'm missing four wonderful people that probably have no clue how much they mean to me and how much it sucks to be this far away from them!!  I know this is my life, I chose this job, and I don't have to travel or be away from them much, which is great most of the time, but this month I'm spending more than half of it apart from them, and I'm not sure I was prepared for what has become the norm at the moment!  My life may not always seem rosy when I'm at home, and we have definitely got our problems, but I can't imagine going back on Friday and them not be at the airport!  Two weeks ago I was walking through the terminal, wondering where or when I would first see them, and out of no where, I hear Layton screaming daddy, daddy, and jumping as high as he could so I would notice him, I've never felt such a rush through my body as I did that moment, he ran up to me, jumped from what seemed like 10 feet away, and I barely let go of my bag before I had to catch him, then I see Teagan running up behind him and into my arms she came.  Then I look and see Kota, standing back just smiling taking it all in, Lord knows he sure wasn't going to put on a show, and then I looked to the left, and there was the most beautiful wife a man could have ever pictured!!!  Sarah was just gorgeous, I felt like I had to be the luckiest man alive, I get to call her my wife, every guy that walked by HAD to see her and wish they got to walk up and kiss that beautiful thing, but nope, that was saved for ME!!!  I'm so thankful that after being away, that I get to come home to these very special people!!!!  Unfortunately, less than 10 days later, I head back out, and now that I'm on the road, granted this is just the first day I've been away, I'm miserable!!!  I do my best to focus on being trained, but I can't keep my mind from wandering those 640 miles back home and wondering what they are doing!!  (side note - now that i'm writing this, tornadic winds and monsoon rain has hit Birmingham, so of course the stupid satellite is out, which makes things worst, a quiet hotel room with lightning and rain, and hail banging on the window!!)  Anyway, Sarah, Layton, Kota, Teagan, I want you all to know that I miss you very much, you guys mean the world to me, I miss you, and even though I'm miserable at the moment missing you, I can't wait to walk down that terminal and hear Layton scream, you can bet I'll be walking with my video running on my phone so I don't miss this!!!  I love you all, and will see you soon!!!!

I guess I should also mention that Pastor texted me tonight, and acknowledged that he knows it has to be hard on me to be apart from my family, .............. AND MY PASTOR!!!  So yes Michael, I do miss you as well!!!!  I will be back Friday, so watch where you step Saturday morning, you never know what's lurking outside of your garage!!

Also, for those of you that have asked for a blog regarding my weight loss, I have officially lost 31 pounds since February!!!  A long way to go, but I'm definitely on the right track!!  Have a great week everyone!!