On the Go: Charge It!

It's been three days since our return to American soil and Matt and I have been making our way to Portsmouth via visits with our families in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The journey has not been without its moments - the most luggage we've ever packed for plane travel, a cat loose on the plane, getting hit in the nose by a wayward soda can, a lost suitcase that was thankfully returned. However, all of the snafus were easily forgotten with each new smile and hug as we were reunited with our families. As we adjusted to the time change and jet lag, we spent a couple laid back days with the Langfords and then headed south to Bridgeport for dinner and brunch with my mom and Aunt Connie. We are currently at Dorsey's apartment in Charleston, and after breakfast we will head to Portsmouth where the full scale house hunt will commence.

One of my observations (which I must quickly dispatch in the interest of my brother and husband's need for IHOP stuffed french toast) is that along with living out of a suitcase and sleeping on a variety of surrendered beds, inflatable mattresses and pullout couches, there are certain dictates that guide our transient life. In the days leading up to our trip and certainly the days following, a pattern has emerged in our lives - the ability and need to recharge. Anyone who knows Matt will know he is a very gadget-savvy personage and thus, I have become gadget-savvy by proxy. On my pre-trip packing list, I counted no fewer than eleven pieces of electronic equipment and their respective chargers - laptops, iPods, digital cameras, Blackberry, portable GPS, eReader. Thus, the first thing we do at each stop on our journey is to locate all available electrical outlets and plug as many of these devices in as possible. The planning of these recharges has become a habitual conversation prior to our departure for and midway through our journey to our next location.

The irony I find in our obsession with recharging our gadgets is that not so many years ago, none of them existed. Instead of spending time plugging and unplugging, we would have been taking the time to read maps, listening to walkmans and packing cassettes or CDs and film, stopping to make calls and trying to fit as many books and magazines in our carry-on as possible. Our gadgets afford us some time and less weight, but I still feel like they own us a little bit with their need for constant monitoring and maintenance. After all, a map doesn't shut down on you when you are five hours into a long drive.