During the first week of January, I was looking over my schedule for 2009, and I happened to notice that I was going to have a three day weekend in February. The reason that I was going to have a three day weekend was because my boss was kind enough to schedule a day off for us on President’s Day.

Normally, when I have a three day weekend, I just use it as an opportunity to relax and catch up on some much needed sleep. However, since I noticed this three day weekend over a month in advance, I decided that it would be fun to use it to take a short trip. After looking at the prices of some different plane tickets, I decided to book one for Chicago and use my three days to visit my Mom.

I wanted my visit to be a complete surprise to my Mom, so when I arrived at the Chicago airport, I picked up a rental car and headed over to her place. She was obviously ecstatic to see me, and we had a great three days together in the city of Chicago.

At the beginning of last month, my brother had his birthday. Because he lives in Chicago and I live in New Hampshire, I decided to fly to Chicago so that I could spend his birthday with him. It may seem strange to you that I would fly all the way from New Hampshire to Chicago just to spend my brother’s birthday with him, but we have always had a really close relationship. Although we don’t get to spend all of our birthdays together, if our schedule allows it, we almost always make sure that we go see the other person on their birthday, even if it is only for a day or two.

In addition to my brother living in Chicago, my parents still live together in Chicago. My brother has his own place and doesn’t live with my parents, but the two of them only live about twenty minutes apart. This is always nice, because I can get to the Chicago airport, pickup my rental car, go get my brother and then we can both go over and see my parents, who are always delighted to see both of their sons together.

Although it doesn’t happen very often, every couple of years my stress hits a level where it is temporarily too much for me to handle. Although this is usually a result of things that are happening at work, this level of stress can also be caused by other areas of my life. However, regardless of the reason why it happens, when my stress hits this level, I follow the same routine to get it under control.

I start by using the Internet to book an airline ticket to Chicago (I always look for the flight that is available the soonest). Once I get to the Chicago airport, I pickup a car rental from the airport, and then drive to the outskirts of Chicago to see my oldest friend. His guest room is always open to me, so even when I unexpectedly show up at his doorstep, he has a bed that I can use for a couple of days while I relax and let all of the weight off of my shoulders.

This may sound like a strange routine, but it always allows me to successfully get my stress under control after just a couple of days.