More coming home

I like coming home as much as I like to go on vacation. I love the feeling of being at home, knowing that you don’t have to live out of a suitcase anymore, sleeping in your very own bed, and observing how much things have stayed the same, and at the same time, noticing how different they are from wherever you went on vacation.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived in Atlanta was the air. When you exit an airplane, there’s always that thin strip of sky between the jetway and the airplane, and on Sunday that meant that I was hit by a blast of true Georgia air; thick, muggy, and hot. It was a world of difference from the crispy, chilly breeze in the Netherlands, and I loved it. I know several of my overseas visitors have complained about the mugginess of Georgia, but it’s really grown on me. Anything beats weeks of overcast skies and perpetual drizzling. However, I have to admit that it took me a little while to adjust to the fact that it’s already close to 100F during the day here; the first day back I must have drank gallons of water, and surprised everyone in my family by complaining the air wasn’t on low enough. But it wasn’t long (read: half a day) before my body adjusted and I happily realized that I no longer had to debate what to wear (shorts? Long pants? T-shirts? Long sleeves?), did not have to bring a jacket anywhere, and could rely on perfect swimming weather every day. Hang on, I’m afraid I’m going to have to take the part back about the jacket. With the rise in temperature, restaurants seem to start competing in who can best imitate a freezer again, so bringing a jacket along is a necessity for survival. That I also re-learned really quickly.

I also really enjoy seeing my house again for the very first time. Somehow I always worry if everything is going the be OK during my absence. Well, somehow is not really right here. I am a worrywart at heart, and in my mind the worst possible things will happen to my home during my absence. I’ve already mentioned how I do this when I go to work, imagine what it’s like when I’m away for extended periods of time! A few years back I would from time to time call my own number to see if my answering machine picked up, reasoning that that meant the house was still there. Are you blushing? No? Well, I am. Fortunately, I no longer feel the need to do that, but some worries still linger. You can imagine my fear when a friend told me tornadoes had touched down near our home the first day of my trip to Holland. Fortunately, they never made it to our town, but I can’t bear to think what could have happened. So I was very very happy to come home, hear Gertie squeal at me, and see everything just as we left it. For a long time, I was on the move so much, nowhere really felt like a home, and it’s nice to realize that this house really does feel like home.

One thing that I did not think I would have missed this much is the convenience of living in Georgia. There are baggers at the grocery store! And a cashier who greets you and smiles when you have a hard time finding your ID. There is no driving around tiny parking lots trying to find a ridiculously small parking space, nope, there is parking everywhere, and it’s free! There are no scary teens on bicycles (instead they’re in cars, but that’s a whole different story), and the roads are nice and wide. People ask you how you are, and offer free refills. Yep, the little things make this whole homecoming-thing even more perfect.

Do I miss Holland? Of course. I had not been back this long in several years, so saying goodbye was a little harder than before. I already miss the cheese section at the grocery store, and the bicycle trails. But coming home has been an overall "mighty fine" experience