weekends away

My first year living in Dallas all I did was go to work and church and spend a lot of time at home.  I don't think I believed in a time off request, or at least I was scared to request any time off.  I think I wanted to be the ultimate employee, like I felt I had something to prove, and I had no life anyway, so I had no reason to want to take time away.  Now that I've been here longer, I still don't do much in Dallas.  I go to work and church and spend a lot of time at home, but I do sometimes go and do stuff with people.  I have discovered that I love having a car and being able to just take off for a couple days.  My work schedule doesn't readily allow this, but when it does, like this weekend, I am thrilled to get away.  I have some close friends right now, but they don't live as near as I would like them to -- one is two hours away, another is close to six.  A few weekends ago I drove the six, this weekend I drove the two.  I find that the longer I have known someone, the more I value their friendship.  I have known both of these people for eight or nine years and am thrilled to finally live close enough to them again that having them in my life in an actual tangible way is possible again.