When my plane touched down after the BlogHer conference, my husband called me, "Bring paper towels." Not knowing exactly why, I gathered as much as I could from the bathroom hidden behind the baggage claim. I tried to hide them a little bit, since I wanted to avoid a confrontation in eco-conscious San Francisco.

Our son hurled all over the car. My stolen paper products were a bit of a help, but the damage had already been done. His Nintendo DS now has a bizarre touch screen problem thanks to its unsavory shower, and the car itself smelled like nothing I'd want to describe poetically here. As luck would have it, we were stuck in traffic for quite awhile, breathing eu-de-my-son's-stomach.

Of course it was still sweet to get home.

In fact, the house was uncharacteristically clean. The ever-growing "what am I supposed to do with this?" mail pile I left for my husband was dealt with. And the biggest surprise: a new (bigger, faster) computer sat at my desk. The e-waste recycling was gone. The old broken printer and the recently-broken printer were gone. A new printer sat where the previous monstrosity had taken up space. The backyard project is nearly done - I got to witness a five-day-fast-forward - and somehow the "back to school" packet from our school arrived signaling eminent freedom (or, at least a different set of responsibilities that involves the boys disappearing for at least a few chunks of time.)

I had a fabulous time at BlogHer, but in some ways the homecoming was even more of a thrill. (Oh, but I could have hung out with Bob Harper a bit longer. Heh.)