Back Home.
Well, this is it. My final entry in this blog (for now). Both Jimmy and Rachel are out at the moment, and once they’re both back I’ll say my goodbyes, and then pop over to visit Anna and Lance, and see their Burlington home, before heading out of town.
How do I feel? Well, certainly kind of bummed, but I think this is a good thing, as a sort of break between this traveling I’ve been doing and whatever I’m going to do next, which might be more traveling. I just don’t know. I don’t feel bad about going home or being there, but I certainly don’t feel good about it. One minute, I was having an adventure of sorts, the next I’m sitting on my ass.
Any way, back to the plot. Jimmy got back first, from his regular workout regimen, followed shortly after by Rachel. He’s a legend (the name of the class, actually). It was good to spend a little more time with Rachel and Jimmy before heading out.
But, still before hitting the road, I stopped to say goodbye to Anna and Lance. although Lance was out gallivanting around town. Anna and I hung out for a little, and then I really did head out, but not until taking a photo of Anna, and then one of Lance, who was pulling up just as I was leaving my parking spot.
I arrived home around 4:30, I think. I drove straight through from Burlington, and saw increasingly familiar sights as I got into southern Vermont and then Massachusetts. It pretty much seemed like I’d hadn’t been out of town for almost 15 weeks, or traveled so much diverse country and scenery, most of which was so different than this landscape. There it was, though, just like I left it. It swallowed me up, almost as soon as I passed through it.
And here was Shutesbury Road, and then home.
As I drove down the driveway, I saw what looked like a sign on the lawn. As I got closer, cold see it was a sign, two, in fact. Blooming cheek, I thought… but then I saw they were welcome home signs.
Very lovely, I thought, and guessed it must have been our neighbors, Mike and Kathleen, who knew I was due back tomorrow. By then, as I came into the house…
It was a lovely surprise, and I thought it must be either Amy and Patsy, or Elisa and Noah. And they were, in fact, the lovely culprits. Elisa and Noah made the signs outside, and had these balloons and a welcome home sign up in the living room. It was so nice. I was really happy to thank them both. Wonderful.
Maybe half an hour after I got home, Alan, who had been tracking me on our iPhones, called. He asked me if it felt as though I’d just left. As I sat there on the couch, my phone headset on my head, talking to Alan as usual, looking at the fireplace and the yard outside, I replied. No, I said. It’s like I was never gone.
I’ll make this the final paragraph in this road journal. Just about about exactly 22,000 miles, and a little over 15 weeks. A wonderful, meaningful, and powerful journey, stopped for now, but only temporarily.