wild and free.

I am home now.  Safe and sound in the warmth of my home.  I’ve been reunited with my family, my bed, my clothing, my jeep.  And I am happy.  I have been busy attempting to unpack the things that composed my life the past two months.  I’ve been sorting and folding laundry.  I’ve been trying to slip back into every day life here.  I’ve been debating how to or when to end the blog… one of my bigger struggles. 

This time more than ever I am shocked at the human ability to adjust.  I’ve been away from home for some time now, living in communities utterly unlike home.  I’ve grown accustomed to the people, the styles, the attitudes, the mannerisms, the pace of life on the Peninsula.  But now I’m here… a place that differs greatly from that.  And despite all the differences, I’m right back where I was before I left… wearing the same clothes, cooking the same things, driving to the same places, having the same mindset.  It’s incredible.  How are we able to so smoothly and painlessly make such an adjustment?  Sometimes I even have to work quite hard at convincing myself that San Francisco did happen.  I’ve been home for roughly two days.  

Guess where I am?  I’m at SFO Airport, awaiting my flight home.  That’s probably a shocker for most of you.  It was quite impulsive, but not quite as sudden as it may seem.  I few things towards the end of my trip fell through so I didn’t have much to keep me busy much longer.  My parents scored me a ticket back with my family, so I jumped on the offer.

After 4 days of parading the city with uncle Dan, aunt Rose, uncle Dave, grandma, mother, and cousin Joe, I’m headed back for good old Sioux County Iowa.  We strolled Burlingame, ate loads of seafood, hit up the beaches, cheered on the Jayhawks, visited Alcatraz, toured the city, went on a hike or two, and drank loads of coffee.  We had a heck of a time.  They’re quite the bunch.  I was glad I got to end my time here with them.  But I suppose that time has come where I’m headed back to reality.  I was getting a wee bit homesick for the family and the people back home.  I am going to miss Joe and Dave terribly, I feel.  They were the greatest hosts.  I had it made… paid for public transportation, warm beds, homemade meals, tour guides, good conversations.  It couldn’t have gotten any better.  They’ll never know what they did for me.  But I am ready to see the family again and cease living out of a suitcase.  How wonderful that will feel…

In just a few hours I will be reunited with my mother, grandmother, and uncle Dan.  I’ve been very anxiously awaiting their arrival.  I’ve really been spoiled out here with visitors… but I will not complain.  There can never be enough sleepovers!

Who would have guessed that I’d someday meet my aunt Rose in the Burlingame Apple Store.  Not this girl.  But that’s just what I did today.  It’d been a few years since I’ve seen her… a few too many years.  She’d spent a majority of my senior year in Sioux Center so I grew very attached.  Emails and a few sporadic phone calls just wasn’t the same.  But finally today, we got to sit down over coffee, crepes, and pastries to just talk, face to face.  She’s a very seasoned traveler and wanderer, all too familiar with the experiences and feelings I’d been having since out here.  Oh, how I’d missed that woman.  She has the most incredible ability to put into words what I feel.  She has always been someone I’ve looked up to for her courage, strength, independence, and unconventionality.  When I think about someone who has lived, who has done, who as seen, she’s the first to come to mind.  As always, she offered me invaluable words of wisdom, both comforting and challenging.  It was really the most pleasant of days.  I look forward to the next few days with her.