It happened so quickly I can scarcely remember it, but my airline tickets say I was in America for 19 days. Thank heavens there was a camera around some of the time, because I don’t think I’d believe it otherwise.
I arrived on Sunday the 11th and save for two evenings, didn’t stop moving until I left again the morning of the 29th. But, busy at it was – I am super grateful that I was able to make it happen, able to see so so many wonderful people, catch up, visit, and for the first return ever not have to think about visa, permessos, and other bureaucratic drama. I even got in a few fantastic Christmas parties!
With the still fresh feeling loss of Emily, every second had a new sense of importance while I was home. I wanted to see everyone, do everything, and appreciate every second in the time I had to enjoy it.
It is always peculiar to return to a place that was once yours and see the things that have changed, the things that at least appear the same, the new openings, the closed favorites, the new additions to people’s lives. It is humbling to remember that the world does move on, and even if we are not forgotten, we cannot be everywhere in every moment.
For people like me, this is an important lesson to remember. :]
Yet, the change I always find most interesting when I return home is the change I see in myself. Whether anyone else notices, I don’t know, but that’s not the important thing for me. I often struggled in the past because I was unable to see tangible growth in myself -year after year I felt like I was treading water. And yes, this was a bit of an extreme solution, so I am certain that one day I’ll face this challenge again, but the internal recognition of improvement is an important one for me.
But enough of that…Christmas itself was wonderful – giant thanks to my brother and his lovely wife for taking up residence on the couch so I could have my bed [amazing, wonderful, perfect bed...]. We were a very full house – 9 sleeping there, including 3 kids and plus 5 dogs. Festivities themselves added 2 more to that mix. But, it was the first time in [ever?] we’ve had all the tots, the grandparents, the siblings, everyone everyone home for Christmas Day. Monopoly was played [I won.], food was eaten [we all won], presents opened [the tots won.] and all in all, I think it was a successful Christmas.
I am though, looking forward to catching my breath this week back in Cagliari.
So, photos already? Got it. :]
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- 90% of those are for little people
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- The only other time I’ve seen the Alps this clear was when I jumped out of a plane over them….
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- sitting in airports…it’s a thing I do…
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- we’re working on our alphabets…
