Being Home

Technically, my travels are over (except of course for a weekend in San Francisco and a trip to Maine, both in May), but I suspect that my travails will continue (such as they are), so chances are good that I'll still be putting posts up periodically. People around me will probably continue to do ridiculous things, which I will of course feel the need to comment on (always excluding names to protect the innocent... and DeAnn).

I've been home a week now, and it is good. Sure, I've been really confused as to what season it is. (I keep thinking that it is fall, as I'm returning to St. Louis after being somewhere warm.) Sure, I've had wacky dreams each night. (Why am I dreaming about my high school reunion, when it is my college reunion that is coming up??) Sure, the dogs didn't have their toenails clipped all year, and clearly haven't been walked past the end of the driveway. Sure, my gardens are filled with weeds, and the house is filled with mail (most of which can be recycled I'm sure). Sure, I keep wandering into school each day. (It's where all my friends are, plus I don't have a computer at home right now, and I am hoping that if I keep showing up they will eventually offer me a job again...)

But it is really, really good to be back. It smells right, it sounds right, it feels right. It is so nice to see all my friends again, and my old students, and my family, and even my old-lady dogs. I can call my friends any time I want (and some of them even answer the phone). I drove a car today for the first time in almost eight months. It's just like riding a bike (which I've only done once in the last eight months).

I did have to chuckle to myself the other day as I was doing some errands with my mom (no matter how old I am, I revert to being a petulant teenager when I'm doing errands with my mother, but to my credit, she says it will be an hour, and it turns into three!), and we were stuck in traffic. This past year I have spent HOURS waiting for buses, trains, planes, which I've done with complete calm and patience. Such is life. No big deal. What's an extra three hours at the airport? But I come home and suddenly an extra round of being stuck at a stoplight and I am irate. I figured out that the solution was to take the Metrolink and then walk. I am in charge, I am happy, and I'm getting exercise. (Walking the dogs doesn't count as exercise, because I think my heart rate actually goes DOWN.)

I always knew this, but my life is really good. It is filled with beautiful things, beautiful surroundings, and beautiful people. It's nice to be truly reminded of this now and again.