I love Austin.  I do.  No, really. 

But boy is it good to go home.  This week I got to spend time with the parents and with the girls in this picture.  Four whole days with them at the farm, PLUS hanging out in Dallas and going for a second round of Wicked with them today.  It was the perfect way to start the summer.  

After the show and a quick bite to eat, I hit the road again to head back to my other home.  Is it possible to have two homes?  I think so.  I used to love driving on the highway.  Not in a city in traffic, but from one city to another, between home and College Station, you get the idea.  I could spend hours in the car by myself.  Now, I hate it.  I don't know what caused the change, but I get so antsy and bored and fed up with slow drivers.  I don't know how anyone handles more than 3 hours in the car by himself or herself.  That being said, I can put up with a few hours if I have something good to listen to (like a Lauren Conrad audiobook or BS Report, of course) or a friend riding with me, but there is still one part I cannot stand.  Driving as the sun sets.  Most people would enjoy getting to witness all the rich colors but not this girl.  Sunsets in general?  I like.  Driving during the day?  Fine.  Driving at night?  My preference, actually.  Driving as the sun rises?  I'll put up with it.  

But this: 

This is my least fave.  I remember coming to this realization in high school when my family and I drove through Austin to San Antonio for me to visit Trinity University.  I think it may have been spring break of my junior year, but who knows?  I distinctly remember hitting the decks of the 35 split in Austin at rush hour (yuck!) and that Cross Canadian Ragweed's "Carry You Home" was playing on the stereo of my mom's Passat.  What is it about music that can make you remember such a specific moment?  I haven't thought about that, and probably haven't listened to that song, since then.  Come to think of it, it had to have been earlier.  Sophomore year, maybe?  Who would've guessed that 8 years later I'd be living here making a daily habit of avoiding the same traffic jam?  For whatever reason, and as much as I love my friends and family in Dallas, it is worth even driving at dusk to come back to Austin.  I just hope I figure out what that reason is.