November 7: We're Home

Heaveno!

Well, we are back. Grandma and Grandpa welcomed us through our doors with open arms, and brought back our dog Lucy (who, despite what Grandpa says about her being happy to be back, has appeared quite sullen since we got here. I think she figured out Bella is missing). Thank God for Grandma and Grandpa. They made sure our fridge was stocked, and the place was clean, although GOD LOVE our tenants Andrea and Josh; they left the place cleaner than they got it!

We enjoyed a nice leisurely start to the day, and around early afternoon, it was time to go. It was a very unique ride back to OC from Phoenix today. I don't know if it's my imagination, but I-10 never looked so pretty to me. The sky was magnificent, the mountains were succulent. I have driven that stretch from Phoenix to LA/OC since 1999 and today it was just the prettiest. I think some of it has to do with my new love for photography, so my visual attention has heightened over the past couple of months. If I want to take as good pictures as some of the mommy bloggers I've met, I need to upgrade my camera and develop my eye! LOL. Seriously, though, I notice beauty a lot more now than I did before.

The house is eerily quiet. I feel like turning on my old PC just so its rattle and hum will somehow fill the void. I used to hate that thing, but maybe now, it'll make it feel... fuller. It also doesn't feel like ours anymore. When you were a kid, did you ever visit your old school, either over the summer or a year or two or three later? What once seemed like an entire universe upon return seemed a bit... small. It's because you outgrew the place. It feels like we've outgrown this space, even though there are fewer of us in it.

When we got home, we slowly just walked around, reintroducing ourselves to the house (condo). It was like a dreamworld... very surreal. It looked familiar, and that's when it hit me... it's the same, but we're not. We've changed. A lot. We've grown. A lot. We're different. A lot? Remains to be seen. This space is the same, but we're not, and when I say we, I mean the 4 of us. One of our good friends at the Phoenix Gathering acknowledged in front of everyone on the mic that he has witnessed a transformation in the three of us. He hung out with us last fall in CA for a couple of days, but hadn't seen us then. When we reconnected at the Gathering, he remarked how different we were, but in a good way.

Okay, I am wiped out and need sleep. Tomorrow begins the first day of the rest of our lives.

Doesn't tomorrow hold that possibility for all of us, though?

How do you relate to Mondays?

God night.

Here's a double dose of Bella since I forgot to post a pic last night!