I had so much fun at the CBBC retreat this weekend! The kids were hilarious and surprising and heartwarming and precious, and the partnership and coworking with Pastor Dave went so smoothly -- we "tag teamed" really well.
Ach, but there is a hidden cost to all these retreats -- the travel! Hanging out with the kids and speaking God's truth into their lives is so energizing and rewarding, but the travel -- ohh, that's tiring!
So today, after sitting in the San Jose airport for five hours while waiting for our inbound plane to arrive after a mechanical problem, we finally got on our flight to Seattle, arriving past 1am. Of course, at that time, there weren't any connecting flights up to Vancouver, so I was stuck in Seattle, in the middle of the night. But I needed to get to Langley by 9am the next morning for work, so I did what any crazy traveler would do -- I rented a car and drove myself up, airport to airport, from 2am until about 4:30am! At least I didn't have to worry about traffic at that hour!
This photo was taken somewhere outside of Bellingham -- yes, it was kind of hard to drive at 120kph while looking through the viewfinder and trying to hold the camera steady for 1/6th of a second in the dark! I noticed an interesting thing about myself when I'm really tired: I could accomplish various autonomic functions without difficulty -- driving, watching for potholes, crossing the border, even pulling out the correct drivers' license when I got pulled over (it was just a warning). But the higher-order, executive functions of my brain just shut down -- somewhere around Redmond, I came to and wondered, "hey, which state am I in? For that matter, which country am I in?". :)
Finally, after dropping off the rental car and picking up my own car from YVR parking, I drove another hour home to Langley, collapsing in bed around 5:30am. Enough time for a quick nap before getting up at 7:30 for work!