Well here are some observations that I have made since I've been back in the states. There is a lot of stress in the air. You can actually feel it just going about your business. People are not relaxed and they are not friendly and helpful to one another. One of the first things that we noticed when we moved to St.Croix was how helpful everyone was, here people don't seem to want to get involved.

Here is an example: Late Tuesday night at the Salt Lake City Airport, while I was waiting for the shuttle from the hotel to pick me up a lady and her two kids were also waiting to be picked up. The kids were getting impatient and said to the mom, "where is he," Mom replied, "I'm not sure he has got to be here somewhere", so the kids said "call him", Mom then says, "I can't my phone is dead". I'm thinking that's easy, I take my phone out of my pocket and say to the lady, "here use mine", she was shocked. So she says to me, "are you sure?" "Yes I told her, I have unlimited coverage, so it's no big deal, just call". She did and couldn't get her party, but the thing that really took me back, was the fact that she was so shocked that I would offer her my phone.

Today as I was doing some Christmas shopping with Rachel, you could literally feel the tension in the stores. People were definitely stressed. We were in Kohls, and they must have been having some gigantic sale, because it looked like Black Friday, there were lines at the check outs and people everywhere. We didn't have any particular experiences with people but nobody is courteous and they really seem to be out for themselves.

Now the really sad part is that I find myself getting anxious and feeling stressed just being in that environment. I start to get impatient and really would rather not talk to people. Fortunately, I'm still at the point that I feel it happening and can "snap out of it", but I'm wondering how long does it take to become second nature. I don't like it.

I'm homesick, I want to be warm and I want to feel more comfortable out in a crowd. It's funny, because when we first moved to St. Croix, I didn't feel real comfortable. I wondered how long it would take before that would happen. I didn't really notice it happening but apparently it did, because I feel more comfortable there than here.

Rachel told me yesterday that people keep asking her when we're coming back, assuming that our time on St. Croix is real temporary or some kind of a lark. I explained to her, again, that we have no "exit date" and for all we know we might stay there forever. I wonder why people still haven't taken our move seriously.

Also, I thought that once I was back in Idaho, I would slip right back into old habits and maybe feel homesick for Idaho. Well that has not happened, I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with the girls and having our family together but there really is nothing here for me but my daughter and her daughters. Well that's all I know for tonight, I'm babysitting and I'm tired and would like to go to bed and read. Macy is down for the count but I have Rozalyn in her swing and I don't want to leave her alone in the living room so I guess I'll stay up and wait for Mom and Dad to return.