It’s amazing how much I let slide while traveling. Those golden moments I capture on the digital camera take over the entire scope of life. Plus there’s still the feeding of the children, I can’t seem to get them over that hunger thing. My teeth are caked with strange substances, and I wear the same thing over and over again. This is traveling. If you’re a traveler - if Costa Rica’s on your agenda or possibly Holland - you know what I mean.

Floss? That’s not really necessary anyway, is it?

Bathing? Well, we can stretch it out just one more day.

Greens? Isn’t ketchup a vegetable?

Ripping fingernails off counts as a manicure, doesn’t it?

I can eat ice cream four times a day, can’t I? And the children too?

But I believe I am finished. Toast. It’s not that I’m itching to be away from this place. Heck, there’s at least a few more weeks until it snows. No, I want to be home and be around my stuff. I want to once again be thrilled with dental hygiene. I want my kitchen and my refrigerator full of the strange, exotic food I like to eat like papaya, coconuts, and avocados. I’m tired of milling through a pile of clothes and debating with myself which ones are clean and which ones cannot under any circumstances be worn again until they are heavily treated with chemicals.

One more day until we fly again. I can see it now: Washing dishes after a lovely meal and sending the kids off to school. Yes. Back they go. We’re done with the tourist thing. It’s time to return to paradise.