Even though I had an absolutely amazing weekend exploring London and generally being a geeky fangirl, I was excited enough to get home to my guys to not mind getting up at 4 a.m. (Not too much, anyway).

I had a great time on the girls’ weekend.  I was shocked at how long it took me to unwind, to turn off the ultra-aware, persistently vigilant Mommy brain and remember how to just relax and enjoy myself.  I think this time away was overdue.  I think it’s something I could use to do more often than once every 5 years.

And we couldn’t have picked a better spot for it.  I love London.  I would live there.  I don’t feel that way about very many places, but I would absolutely live there (and probably spend way too much going to the “theatre” at every opportunity).

The morning of my departure, it was far too early for me to contemplate things like trains, so I opted for the vastly easier (but much more expensive) option of a cab.  I had a nice chat with the driver on our way out to Heathrow — he’s the dad to one daughter, now all grown up, and insisted that mom having a weekend away from dad and the kids truly is good for everyone.

Heathrow is intense, even at 5 in the morning.  Coming up to the airport, I was surprised to already see the line of plane lights in the sky, stretching off into the distance.  (What time do those flights depart wherever they’re coming from?!?)  I was also please to see how efficient Heathrow was — I was able to check myself in, print my own luggage tags and easily make my way to the gate (where, as a slightly odd security measure, I had to show my passport again to enter the gate area) to wait for my flight home.

I had a pleasant and comfortable flight home (British Airways is as good as Air France was on our recent trip home) and I spent part of the time contemplating people.

I think people are great.  I love how we help each other.  How we’re basically kind.  The cabbie, the check-in people, the other assorted staff at the airport.  No one has to be nice to each other, but most people generally are.  I love how we build and invent things, like air planes, like London.  I love how creative human beings are — theater, movies, storytelling.  It’s amazing what we do and who we are.  I love people.

And, on that note, it was time to return home to the people I love very most of all.