Exhausted after long trip

Whew!

We arrived home after midnight last night from a long trip to FL for wife's uncle's funeral. 1,000 miles in 3 days. Got in bed around 12:30 a.m.; phone woke me up at 8:00 a.m.; stumbled into work a little after 9:30. Took a sleeping pill to help me get to sleep last night, then drank a strong cup of coffee to wake me up this morning. So I'm feeling a bit jangly, but know it will pass with time.

Sitting here in the midst of a pile of undone work, remembering the pile of stuff at home. We hadn't even unpacked from our Valentine's weekend trip before we had to repack for the funeral trip. He was my wife's favorite uncle; died at 71 from cancer. The funeral home was packed with family and friends, most of whom I didn't know but had seen in 2003 when we went down for her grandfather's funeral. Funeral was at 2:00 p.m.; left around 3:30 p.m. Drove through some bad thunderstorms on the way home through Alabama. Temp was 73 when we left but 38 when we got home.

Wife's sleeping in; hope she awakes refreshed, but I'm pretty sure she's gonna be exhausted just like me.

This has been a tough stretch for us on several fronts.

We had a difficult period right after Valentine's after I made a stupid statement.

The long trip to FL rekindled memories of the rescue trip we made less than 4 months ago to Illinois to bring wife's sister and 3 young children back to FL from an abusive husband, only to have her sister pack up and return just after Xmas.

We were also reeling from the disrespectful "presents" that my daughter's husband sent to me along with pictures and cute drawings from the grandchildren. This also brought back painful memories from the rescue trip we had made in the summer of 2004. Upon her frantic call for help, we drove 650 miles to her house, only to have him rudely and disrespectfully expel us from his house after the restraining order expired.

The combination of all these events has added to the stress my wife's been under since she had to resign her job in early November. That breakdown happened partially as a result of the rescue trip for her sister, which precipitated a series of panic attacks. She's been slowly climbing out, with the help of a good therapist and change of medication. But the external stressors haven't helped matters at all.

So here I sit at my computer, drinking water to help flush out my system and get things working again.

Also allowing the effects of the sleeping pill/coffee to wear off and let me feel more like my "normal" self (whatever that may be!).

Tonight we're taking a friend to the airport at 6:30, after which we'll finally have an evening at home together.