Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.

I feel like I've been in a time warp.

Coming home it feels like I've never left.

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My flight home from BWI to SLC was long. Namely for two reasons: I had to get up at 4:00 to catch my shuttle to the airport. I ended up getting there 3.5 hours early and spent those hours trying to eat an omelet in the slowest way possible, and then curled up on a bench trying to sleep (I looked more than a little homeless, I'm sure). So, I felt rather grumpy when I got on the plane.

The good thing was that there was an empty seat (one of the only empty seats on the flight) next to me. The bad thing was that there is a rubber stamping/scrap booking convention in SLC this week. This is more like 35-odd bad things. There were a good many 50-something-year-old women on the flight who spent the 3 hours and 40 minutes chattering, squealing, passing the fudge around and generally annoying me as I tried to sleep. Every time I'd drift off, I'd get a nice kick to the back of my chair as the ladies switched seats so that they could all chat with each other. At one point (I'm not kidding) I looked back and saw one sitting on another's lap.

I thought that sort of thing was reserved for an 8-year-old's sleepover. I was wrong.

I now feel very vindicated in not participating in the world of scrap booking.

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On the way home my brother, mom and I stopped at Cafe Rio. This is generally the first place I stop to eat when I am back in Utah. While standing in line, (I am sad to admit) I scrutinized the people around me. I noticed that not one woman had a hair out of place. Everything was perfectly dyed, hair sprayed and arranged. Every face was made-up. Every article of clothing was trendy and fit like a glove.

It's no wonder that Utah is the state with the highest percentage of people taking anti-depressant pills. Everyone looks like they walked right out of the Truman show. It's hard to compete with that.

It made me feel like I was in high school again. I mean, I was always comfortable to be who I was, but it was hard to look around me and see that "perfection" day after day. I always wondered --and still do wonder -- where these people find the time to look like that. Sign me up for whatever job they have that gives them 2 hours to spend on themselves every morning.

Wow, sorry, that makes me sound angry. I'm not. I just had forgotten the barbie culture that is Utah.

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Staying at home I feel like a kid again. Other than the occasional new stoplight or restaurant, nothing has changed. Did I ever leave?

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More to come: Ashton got married on Thursday (who gets married on a Thursday?). She was beautiful. Her whole wedding was beautiful. I'll be adding pictures as soon as I have the drive to upload them.

Cheers.